Beginning in 5779, HaRav Ginsburgh dedicated one of his weekly Shabbat classes to the anthology of the Ba’al Shem Tov’s teachings, Keter Shem Tov. In this class, he reviews section 21, one of the seminal teachings that demonstrates the novel rationale in understanding the Torah revealed by the Ba’al Shem Tov, a rationale that leads to a whole new way of looking at Torah and its message.
The class was given on the 2nd of Second Adar, 5779 and was first published in the No’ach 5786 edition of Nifla’ot.
In section 21 of the anthology of the Ba’al Shem Tov’s teachings, Keter Shem Tov, the author quotes a foundational teaching from his master, the Ba’al Shem Tov. In this case, the teaching is linked to Noah’s Ark. “Ark” (הָבֵּת) in Hebrew is the same as “word.”
Into the ark, Noah brought a male and female specimen of every species. And so, this teaching begins,
Behold in the ark [or, a word], among the animals, there are two: a male and a female.
The Hebrew word for “animals” (תֹויַח) can be read as “lifeforce” (תּויַח). A similar adaptation of the meaning is made on another famous instance of this word in Ezekiel’s description of the Divine chariot: “And the animals would run and returned” (בֹוׁשָא וֹצוָת רֹויַחַהְו), which can be read as, “And life-force runs and returns.” Using this insight, we can say that the Ba’al Shem Tov means that in every word in the Torah there are two types of life-force: A masculine force and a feminine force.
This teaching is linked with what appears earlier regarding the verse describing King Solomon in his old age, “his wives turned his heart,” and the author mentions it here:
I have already written elsewhere in the name of my teacher the interpretation of the verse, “In his old age, his wives turned his heart,” that in every word there are two meanings: the first is compassionate and is known as the male aspect, the second is judgmental and is known as the female aspect. And this is the meaning of “his wives turned his heart.”
Actually, the first time this idea was mentioned, it was taken a bit further: that since everything was created out of the Torah’s words, it follows that everything in Creation has both a masculine and a feminine aspect. It is this inner duality that allows for free choice, “And the choice is given for one to decide which way he wants to turn his heart.”
Mashpia and Mekabel, Influencer and Receiver
Now, normally, when we find a reference to there being a masculine side and a feminine side, the simplest meaning is not compassion and judgment, but rather mashpia (influencer) and mekabel (receiver), respectively. The Lubavitcher Rebbe is known to have explained that the difference in essential traits between a Jew and a non-Jew is that the former is a mashpia and the latter a mekabel. This is particularly true with regard to faith in God and with respect to the Torah.
What does it mean to read the Torah as an influencer or as a receiver? One who reads the Torah to influence is constantly asking themselves: How do I teach this to others? But one who is reading it to receive wants to benefit—to receive something—from his Torah study. For instance, he might want to be honored by others, be called a rabbi, etc. When one learns Torah in the receiver mode, it awakens the aspect of the non-Jew within and can drag him down even unto idolatry, like Solomon, who though he never actually worshipped a false God, did not confront his wives and allowed them to do so. From a spiritual perspective, idolatry is first and foremost self-worship. Indeed, what happened to King Solomon was that he began to view himself as special: I am the wisest, I am....”
Male and Female as Compassion and Judgment
Apart from this basic interpretation of what it means to see two facets in every word in the Torah, the Ba’al Shem Tov now adds that these two facets are also compassion and judgment. For example, a judge that wants to rebuke everyone reads the entire Torah as one long accusation. But you can also read the Torah, even its harshest parts, from a perspective of compassion.
Case in point: the values of “murder” (חַצֶר) and “compassion” (יםִמֲחַר) are the same. What can this mean? As explained by the sages and the commentaries on the prohibition “You shall not kindle a fire [in all your dwellings on Shabbat],” when a court of justice executes a capital punishment, they are called “good murderers.” This is murder, so to speak, but out of compassion on the soul of someone who is truly wicked and for whom this is the only path to atonement.
In the same manner, every punishment prescribed by the Torah is inwardly compassionate.
This is the way in which a word is transformed from judgment to compassion, as he continues to say,
And it is the tzaddikim who can turn the measure of judgment into the measure of compassion.
To turn judgment into compassion is also known as “sweetening judgments at their root.” One can use gematria, as we did above, but the true meaning of sweetening a judgment at its root is to discover that inwardly it is not an act of judgment but an act of compassion. If so, one might say that tzaddikim turn the females into males, following the verse attributed to the times of Mashiach, “[Zion] a man and a man will be born in it.”
