Chapter 2
Now, the aspect of Yaakov our forefather is the level of awakening “the Higher level of Mercy” from Hashem, which is, that the concept of Hashem needing to have mercy is applicable even to all the highest spiritual worlds, as is explained elsewhere.
In terms of regular people, mercy applies only when a noble or wealthy person sees a coarse or poor person, that has much less than him. However, on the rich and noble person, needing mercy would not apply. However, from the perspective of the king of the entire country, all the nobles are considered equal to the beggar on the street. Therefore, from the king’s perspective, all his citizens are equally needing of his mercy.
Now, even the greatest king is limited in how much he is exalted above the people in his country, and correspondingly, how much he feels the need to have mercy on all his citizens equally. However, Hashem is infinitely exalted above all worlds equally, in the most absolute sense. Therefore, from Hashem’s perspective, everyone needs His mercy equally, since Atzilus is equally far the Infinite Truth of Hashem as the physical world we live in, therefore even Atzilus needs Hashem’s mercy just as we need it. This is the “Higher level of Hashem’s mercy” that Yaakov was able to awaken from Hashem. He was able to draw down Hashem’s mercy from a level that transcends Atzilus into the world of Atzilus.
Whereas the level of the Shevatim, who were the children of Yaakov, were on a lower level than him. That is, the level of ‘mercy’ of the Shevatim is the ability to awaken abundant mercies from Hashem on the spark of Divinity that is invested our soul. This is accomplished through contemplation on the infinite greatness of Hashem, how He is “Exalted and Elevated,” and “Before Him, nothing else has any significance,” and how all the creations are “bateil,” i.e., completely dependent upon and still included in their Divine Source of existence and life, to the point of having no independent existence or value. And among all the other creations is the person’s own soul, that when it was originally included in the spiritual place it was derived from, i.e., before the soul descended into the body, it was openly revealed how this soul is a “literal aspect of Divinity from Above,” at that point it was completely “bateil,” i.e., it experienced the truth of how it is nothing other than an expression of and included in the Infinite Light of Hashem, so how is it possible that this soul fell so tremendously low, like someone falling from a high roof into a deep pit?!
According to how many details he goes through in this contemplation, and how much time he spends on it, based on that will be with how much great intensity he will feel mercy on his own Divine soul, and thereby awaken mercy from Hashem as well.
In other words, in order to awaken mercy from Hashem, a person needs to feel the contrast of where his came from and where it ended up. For example, if a thief who lived on the streets stealing from people is sent to jail, even though it is unfortunate for anyone to end up in jail, the contrast between where he came from and where he ended up is not that great, and therefore the mercy that people will feel for him will not be so intense. However, if a compassionate and righteous king is exiled to be a slave and work in the barn of a coarse peasant, this is a tremendous contrast, and whoever knows the king will be awakened with an intense feeling of mercy to save him. When we realize how great Hashem, and what it means that our soul was bound up and united with Hashem on the highest possible level, a status greater than any king in this world every held, a level beyond anything this world could every come close to, and from this Bond of Life with the Infinite Truth of Hashem it fell into dealing with the stupidities and coarseness of the animal souls base physical desires, the contrast should be overwhelming.
The more a person appreciates the greatness of Hashem, the greatness of his soul and where it comes from, according to that he will feel the contrast and be moved to feeling mercy on his soul.
The Role of Prayer
It is regarding this matter, the need to awaken Hashem’s mercy, that the entire order of the prayers is based. It is also for this reason that in Pesukei Dezimra there are many verses recounting the praise of Hashem, describing ascendingly higher levels of Hashem’s creations and mighty deeds, since this increasing awareness of Hashem will increase his feeling of mercy on the Divine Spark in his soul that fell far from the Infinite Light of Hashem, as explained above.
Now, when a person will awaken mercy on his own soul in an “awakening from below,” this will cause a corresponding “awakening of mercy from Hashem Above.” For example, by way of analogy, when someone pulls down the branch or bough of a tree, then the entire tree can be bent downwards. So too, through this “awakening from below” on the level of the Shevatim (branches), this causes an “awakening from Above,” of Hashem’s abundant mercies, so that Hashem’s Infinite Light, as it is expressed in the levels and attributes of the forefathers, should be drawn down and openly revealed in his soul.
Meaning, that person should come to have an intimate knowledge and strongly felt experience of his awareness of Hashem’s True Existence, so that it should be as real to him as though he had seen it with own eyes. Like we say (in the blessing before the morning Shema): “Our Father, Hashem, merciful Father, please have mercy upon us, and place in our hearts understanding...” to truly perceive and recognize Hashem’s presence and existence so that it is felt in our heart.
Since, for our hearts to be a proper ‘dwelling place,’ i.e., receptacle, for the understanding and intimate awareness of Hashem’s True existence on a level that is felt in our heart, this is only possible through Hashem’s mercy on us. Since mercy and “Daas,” i.e., the ability to have an intimate awareness which creates an emotional connection with something, are interconnected. As our Sages say (Brachos 33a): “Whoever has no “Daas,” [i.e., mature and intimately felt awareness of the true value of the important things in life,] it is forbidden to have mercy on him,” since the other person’s mercy will not actually help him, since he does not really care about life in a mature way, and the other person’s mercy will end up just enabling him to do more reckless things.
We thus see that mercy comes to one that has “Daas,” and the opposite is also true, that through a person having mercy on himself he can come to have “Daas.” (However, only if a person awakens mercy on himself will he come to Daas. This is unlike the above quote of the Sages, that one who has no Daas and does not care to have any mercy on himself, then no else can truly help him. This process must start from the inside it with the person first realizing that he doesn’t have Daas and awakening mercy on himself to want to have Daas. Then, Hashem can have mercy on him and give him the power to truly attain Daas. The maamar will continue to say that Hashem does need to give us some mercy first before we can awaken mercy from Hashem on us. But that type of mercy is just to give us the power and capability to awaken His mercy on a revealed level, as will be further explained.)
