Before explaining the two corresponding tikkunim, let us understand the conceptual distinction more deeply. The Midrash at the beginning of Eichah describes Damascus having three hundred and sixty-five houses of idol worship – one for each day of the year. Every day they worshipped a different idol: one day the god of Tzidon, the next day the god of Moav, the next the god of Ekron. And one day each year – the last day of the year – they worshipped all of them together.
The Pasuk in Shoftim describes Bnei Yisrael's sin:
They served the Baalim and the Ashtarot, the gods of Aram, the gods of Tzidon, the gods of Moav, the gods of Ammon, and the gods of the Philistines – and they abandoned Hashem and did not serve Him.
They worshipped all of them – but not Hakadosh Baruch Hu. Not even in partnership: וַאֲפִלּוּ לֹא בְשִׁתּוּף, adds the Midrash.
Hakadosh Baruch Hu said: if only they had made me like the garnish that comes last. (Garsimi is explained as a condiment – something brought at the end of the meal, as an afterthought.) Hakadosh Baruch Hu says even that would have been enough. You worship all those others from Ekron to Tzidon. On the one day you worship all of them together – why not include Me too? Just slip into shul for Barchu. Even that – even the smallest acknowledgment – would have been acceptable. But they did not.
The sin is not in worshipping other gods alongside Hakadosh Baruch Hu. The deeper sin is in completely excluding Him. And that is precisely what those who said זֶה did: they excluded Hakadosh Baruch Hu entirely.
Rabbotai, with all of this, I want to pause for just two minutes to explain something. There is a concept called קִצוּץ בִּנְטִיעוֹת – kitzutz bintiyot, severing the saplings. You know this term from the Gemara in (Chagigah 14b). Four entered Pardes: Ben Azzai, Ben Zoma, Elisha ben Avuyah (Acher), and Rabbi Akiva. Each one was affected differently. One glimpsed and was harmed; one glimpsed and died. And Elisha ben Avuyah – what did he do? He committed kitzutz bintiyot.
Rashi asks: why this expression of kitzutz bintiyot? What does it mean? He explains, Elisha ben Avuyah descended into the Pardes, and what is in a Pardes? Saplings – nitiyot. So, he cut the saplings. But what does this actually mean as a concept? One could discuss this at great length, because Rabbeinu Bachya invokes kitzutz bintiyot in connection with the sin of Adam HaRishon, with the sin of the Golden Calf, with the Dor Haflaga – in every one of these contexts he speaks of the same single sin: kitzutz bintiyot. The Sefer Baruch Yomeiru in Parshat Bereishit discusses this at great length in connection with Adam HaRishon's sin – seek it out and study it there. We don’t have the time to elaborate.
I want to take just one point. If you take a tree, a tree that has grown, and you separate the sapling from the trunk, what happens? It has nothing left to draw from. Until now it drew nourishment from the trunk; now it has nothing. You have severed the sapling. Or take a fruit from a tree: until now the fruit received its yield, received its flavor, from the tree. Now you have separated it. It is disconnected from the tree. Finished.
Rabbotai, there have always been people in the world who said: Hakadosh Baruch Hu created the world, but once He created it, He no longer involves Himself with it. We are approaching Pesach, so this is quite timely. Rabbi Yehuda arranged the makkot into three groupings: דְּצַ״ךְ עַדַ״שׁ בְּאַחַ״ב.
Why do we need three separate mnemonics? The Kli Yakar, citing Rabbeinu Chananel and the Abarbanel, explains: there were three categories of unbelievers in Egypt. Some said: there is no G-d. Nothing. Atheists. The world came about through an explosion. Very well.
Some said: there is a G-d, but He does not oversee the lowly – He does not involve Himself with what happens down here. He created the world, the sun, the moon, the stars, the galaxies; He made all of it. But once He created the world, He checked out and said: “Thank you, I’m finished, take care of it yourselves. I am done.”
And some said: there is a G-d, He does oversee the lowly, but He cannot change nature. He cannot make darkness in the middle of the day or bring hail together with fire. Once He created the world, He does not alter the natural order.
Each of the three groupings – דְּצַ״ךְ, עַדַ״שׁ, בְּאַחַ״ב – corresponds to one of these three categories of denial.
Now: those in Egypt who said there is a G-d but He does not oversee the lowly, the Arizal writes that these people are separating the מִי from the אֵלֶּה.
Let me explain. What is the Name of Hakadosh Baruch Hu? מ -י -ה-ל-א. That is His Name. Now separate it. What do you separate? אֵלֶּה from מִי. The moment you separate אֵלֶּה from מִי, what do you have? אֵלֶּה alone, and מִי alone.
Who is מִי? The Arizal says Hakadosh Baruch Hu is called מִי: מִי כֵאלֹקֵינוּ, מִי כַאדֹנֵינוּ, מִי כְמוֹשִׁיעֵנוּ. That is מִי. And why is He called מִי? Because the gematria of מִי is fifty. And where does Hakadosh Baruch Hu dwell? At שַׁעַר הַחֲמִשִּׁים – the Fiftieth Gate is where He dwells.
The Navi Yeshayahu says שְׂאוּ מָרוֹם עֵינֵיכֶם — Raise your eyes on high – וּרְאוּ מִי בָרָא אֵלֶּה – and see: Who created these? The מִי – Hakadosh Baruch Hu – created the אֵלֶּה – all the things that exist in the lower world.
Who is the One above? And Who created all of אֵלֶּה below? It is the same One. To separate them and to say G-d created the world but does not concern Himself with it – is to split the Name. That is kitzutz bintiyot. And those who said אֵלֶּה אֱלֹהֶיךָ – separating the אֵלֶּה from the מִי – were committing precisely this sin.
What did Pharaoh say? מִי ה' אֲשֶׁר אֶשְׁמַע בְּקֹלוֹ – Who is Hashem that I should listen to His voice? Meaning: He oversees things down here? There is no divine providence! That is precisely the separation of מִי without אֵלֶּה.
So, what is our task? The Arizal writes: why do we count fifty days from Pesach to Shavuot? Why fifty? To reconnect the מִי to the אֵלֶּה; to join them back together and declare that there is a Hakadosh Baruch Hu Who created, creates, and will create all things, and Who oversees every one of His creations. That is the meaning of Sefirat HaOmer.
And when Bnei Yisrael danced around the calf and proclaimed אֵלֶּה אֱלֹהֶיךָ יִשְׂרָאֵל, what were they doing? They were separating the מִי from the אֵלֶּה. The very Pasuk cries out against this: שְׂאוּ מָרוֹם עֵינֵיכֶם וּרְאוּ מִי בָרָא אֵלֶּה – raise your eyes on high and see: the מִי created the אֵלֶּה. They are one.
The deepest declaration of Jewish faith addresses this directly: שְׁמַע יִשְׂרָאֵל ה' אֱלֹקֵינוּ ה' אֶחָד. The Arizal notes: the roshei teivot of שְׁמַע are שְׁ'אוּ מָ'רוֹם עֵ'ינֵיכֶם – raise your eyes on high. The same opening. The שְׁמַע declares: the One above and the אֵלֶּה below are the same G-d. Do not separate them. The One rides upon seven – אֶחָד רוֹכֵב עַל שֶׁבַע. This is our task: to see the unity.
Now, let’s return to Rav Shlomo Kluger. Those who said אֵלֶּה – they worshipped in shituf, in partnership. This is the sin Dor Enosh: they acknowledged G-d but added intermediaries – the stars, the sun; the officers of the King. They gave honor to the ministers of the King, not to the King Himself. That is the Avodah Zarah of Dor Enosh. And the Gemara (Shabbat 118b) states: Whoever observes Shabbat properly – even if he served idols like the generation of Enosh – he is forgiven.
Shabbat is the tikkun for Avodah Zarah b'shituf. Why Shabbat specifically? Because Shabbat is the declaration that Hakadosh Baruch Hu created the world in six days and rested on the seventh. He is not only the Creator who then handed the world to intermediaries – He is actively present, He is the One who rides upon seven. Shabbat repairs the specific distortion of Dor Enosh.
What happened in the Generation of Enosh? The Rambam writes at the beginning of Hilchot Avoda Zara: they began to honor and worship the sun and the moon. Why? They reasoned: Hakadosh Baruch Hu created the world, but after creating it, He appointed ministers. This one is the minister appointed over light, this one over darkness, this one over the wind. And they gave honor to these ministers, as one gives honor to a minister of a king.
When the Minister of the Treasury comes to see you, what do you do? You greet him warmly: “Good day, Your Honor the Minister, how are you, sir?” He works for the King, so of course you show him respect. And if the King appointed him, then naturally you honor him. That is what the Generation of Enosh did, says the Rambam; they gave honor to the servants of the King. They were not saying there is no King. There is a G-d, but after He handed the world over to His ministers, they directed their worship toward the ministers.
What a mistake. A tremendous mistake – the mistake of Dor Enosh.
So, Rabbotai: one who worshipped idols in the manner of Dor Enosh, meaning b'shituf, in partnership – there is a G-d, but one also worships the sun and the moon as His appointed ministers – what is his atonement? What repairs this sin? Shabbat. Whoever observes Shabbat properly, even if he worshipped idols like the generation of Enosh, he is forgiven.
Now the Parsha becomes completely clear. Moshe Rabbeinu says to the community: וַיַּקְהֵל מֹשֶׁה אֶת כָּל עֲדַת בְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל וַיֹּאמֶר אֲלֵהֶם אֵלֶּה הַדְּבָרִים. Those who sinned with the word אֵלֶּה – whose sin was Avodah Zarah b'shituf – what is their tikkun? שֵׁשֶׁת יָמִים תַּעֲשֶׂה מְלָאכָה וּבַיּוֹם הַשְּׁבִיעִי יִהְיֶה לָכֶם קֹדֶשׁ שַׁבַּת שַׁבָּתוֹן לַה'. Their tikkun is Shabbat. That is their repair.
But there was another group – those who worshipped the smaller calves and said זֶה: him and no other, excluding Hakadosh Baruch Hu entirely. For them, Shabbat is not enough. Moshe then says: וַיֹּאמֶר מֹשֶׁה אֶל כָּל עֲדַת בְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל לֵאמֹר זֶה הַדָּבָר אֲשֶׁר צִוָּה ה'. This is the thing Hashem commanded: קְחוּ מֵאִתְּכֶם תְּרוּמָה לַה' – Take from yourselves a donation for Hashem. The one who said זֶה must build the Mishkan. The Mishkan is their tikkun.
Rabbotai, from where do we derive all the laws of Shabbat? From the words אֵלֶּה הַדְּבָרִים. The Gemara (Shabbat 70a) teaches: the gematria of אֵלֶּה is thirty-six; add דְּבָרִים – two more – that is thirty-eight; add הַ – the definite article – making הַדְּבָרִים thirty-nine. The thirty-nine categories of prohibited labor (melacha) on Shabbat are all derived from the very phrase אֵלֶּה הַדְּבָרִים – the very language of the sin. Those who said אֵלֶּה now repair through Shabbat.
A Jew shared a beautiful insight with me this week. He asked: why do we call the ceremony at the end of Shabbat הַבְדָּלָה? I asked him: why do you think it's called that? He said: it says in the Pasuk הַמַּבְדִּיל בֵּין קֹדֶשׁ לְחֹל, בֵּין אוֹר לְחֹשֶׁךְ, בֵּין יִשְׂרָאֵל לָעַמִּים – Who distinguishes between holy and mundane, between light and darkness, between Israel and the nations. Then he offered a beautiful idea. On Shabbat, when you make Kiddush, you are saying: “Ribbono Shel Olam, I am setting myself apart from the thirty-nine categories of prohibited labor. Starting now, no thirty-nine melachot.” That is what Shabbat declares.
And what is the basis for thirty-nine? The Ba'al HaTurim writes: from the opening of Parshat Vayakhel until the word הַשַּׁבָּת, there are exactly thirty-nine words, telling you that thirty-nine melachot are permitted on weekdays, but on Shabbat – closed. So, on Shabbat you separate yourself from the thirty-nine and when Shabbat then ends, what are you saying? “Now I am returning to the thirty-nine.” So, what do you say? הַב דָּלֶה – “give back the delah.” הַב means give, return; and what is the gematria of דָּלֶ"ה? Thirty-nine. I am returning the thirty-nine melachot. That is why it is called הַבְדָּלָה – to tell you that the melachot are returning.
Rabbotai, the entire tikkun of Shabbat, where do you learn it from? From Cheit HaEigel; from אֵלֶּה הַדְּבָרִים. It follows that those who worshipped b’shituf and said אֵלֶּה אֱלֹהֶיךָ יִשְׂרָאֵל, their tikkun is Shabbat observance. But those who said זֶה, Shabbat alone will not be enough for them. To those who said זֶה, Moshe says זֶה הַדָּבָר. They need the tikkun of the Mishkan. The Mishkan is their atonement. Those are the words of Rav Shlomo Kluger, in brief.
