Constructing the Partzuf
Since we have 4 all-inclusive sins, it follows that we should correspond them to the best-known Torah model of the four letters of God’s essential Name, Havayah. Whenever we have 4 elements that are well-ordered in the Torah, logic dictates that their order be retained. Thus, we create the following partzuf:
letter of HavayahsefirahAll-inclusive SinSin againstyudWisdomTree of KnowledgeSelfheiUnderstandingSelling JosephBrotherhood/MothersvavBeauty (Knowledge)Worshipping Golden CalfMosesheiKingdomSpiesLand of IsraelLet us walk through the parts of this partzuf in a bit more detail, although a complete treatment is beyond our scope here.
First, we want to look at who the sin was aimed at. On first inspection we would say that the first and third sins—eating from the Tree of Knowledge and Worshipping the Golden Calf—were sins aimed at God, while the second sin was against Joseph and the fourth was perhaps against Moses. However, on closer inspection, we can analyze the sins differently.
Even though eating from the Tree of Knowledge seems to be a sin against God Himself, in reality it was a form of self-harm, akin to suicide. Because God had warned Adam that eating from the tree would lead to his certain death, Adam choosing to in fact eat from the tree was a suicidal act. In fact, this is the root of all sin—ignoring one’s own well-being and acting in a masochistic manner, inflicting self-harm. But at each level of sin, the harm is inflicted on a more distant and seemingly less intimate part of the self.
All four all-inclusive sins present various degrees of self-inflicted harm. Adam harmed himself directly. His sin attacked the very essence of his being, known as the “power of the essence” (חֹכַּמ), one of the permutations of “wisdom” (הָמְכָח).
Joseph’s brothers attacked one of their own, one level removed from harming the self. The connection between the brothers and Joseph was a familial one, but as mentioned earlier, because they were not from the same mother, the attack was against motherhood as the basis of nationhood. In Hebrew (as well as other Semitic languages), the word for “nation” (אֻמָּה) is derived from “mother” (אֵם).
The sin of the Golden Calf was not against God. As Maimonides and others explain, the people were replacing Moses—God’s emissary—not God Himself. As such, the Golden Calf was an attack on Moses’ leadership.
Finally, the Sin of the Spies was directed not only against Moses, who promised to bring the Israelites to the Holy land, but against Moses’ leadership as it would be elevated to the status of being a king, specifically in the Land of Israel. And so, it was an attack against one’s homeland.
Let us summarize this additional analysis with an augmented form of our partzuf:
letter of HavayahsefirahAll-inclusive SinSin againstyudWisdomTree of KnowledgeSelfheiUnderstandingSelling JosephNationvavBeauty (Knowledge)Worshipping Golden CalfLeadershipheiKingdomSpiesHomeland(based on a class given on the 24th of Sivan, 5754 in Shechem)
