כתיב ה׳ יחתו מריבו וגו׳

The maamar opens with a verse from Chanah’s song of thanks, “Havayah—those who contend with Him shall be shattered,” and asks the obvious question: who could contend with G‑d at all?

The Zohar (III, 19b) describes two states. When the judgments (dinin), the forces of strictness, are aroused and rule, mercy is subdued; when the Holy One, blessed be He, receives blessing from “the wellspring of the stream,” a flow from a higher source, mercy prevails and the judgments are subdued. The Zohar notes that merivo is written without the yud of the plural, and so reads it as meriv vav, “one who contends with the vav”; the maamar explains below what the vav stands for.

The Alter Rebbe asks why the arousal of judgment should be called contending with G‑d, and begins his answer: the Name Havayah is the attribute of mercy, as the Midrash teaches that wherever this Name appears it denotes mercy.

Yet this Name is the Name of Z’eir Anpin of Atzilus, the configuration of the divine emotive attributes (the Idra Rabba, Zohar III 129a, to which a Kehot note points, calls Z’eir Anpin by the Name Havayah), and Z’eir Anpin contains Gevurah as well as Chesed. Creation too, which comes into being from this Name, is surrounded by the four camps of the Shechinah, the angelic hosts led by Michael on the side of Chesed and Gavriel on the side of Gevurah.

The answer is that this Gevurah is “included in the right” (in the Kabbalah Chesed is the right side and Gevurah the left): it is subordinate to Chesed and nullified before it. Restraint that serves kindness does not weaken the kindness; on the contrary, it gives the kindness an advantage it would lack on its own.

Chesed by itself is likened to water, cold and moist, while life depends on warmth, as the Torah’s words “the blood is the soul” show: the warm blood carries life. The warmth that Chesed lacks comes from Gevurah.

In the spiritual realm too, pure coldness can “freeze the waters,” so that the flow stops altogether: kindness with no warmth can end in no giving at all. The Torah’s account of Yaakov’s flocks, which “came into heat” (vayechemu, from the root for warmth), shows that new life comes through heat.

The other phrase about Yaakov’s flocks, “and they came into heat when they came to drink,” makes the point general: no birth happens without warmth, and warmth belongs to Gevurah. So the Name Havayah, which brings all things into being, must contain Gevurah too.

But that Gevurah is included in the right, in Chesed, and precisely this blend is the source of life and of coming into being.

The opposite case is Gevurah that is not included in Chesed. That was the state of the World of Tohu (chaos), in the Arizal’s teaching the first order of creation, where each attribute stood by itself and the left was not included in the right; from such separate Gevurah branched out the harsh judgments, the accusers above, whose only wish is that judgment be carried out.

The Zohar at the beginning of Miketz reads Job’s words about the “end” that “searches out every end” as speaking of an accuser from the left that roams the world and above it, all of whose deeds aim at destruction. Its counterpart below is the kind of person who rejoices at another’s misfortune.

Such people may at times seem righteous in their anger at a sinner, but the sin itself does not grieve them. What they want is to see judgment carried out.

The accusers above are the same. Their anger is not “the zeal of Havayah of Hosts,” a zeal that is pained by the sin itself; they simply desire judgment, because they are the dross of Gevurah, its waste, as dross is what is left over when metal is refined.

This is why they are called those who contend with the Name Havayah: G‑d’s will, expressed in this Name, is for kindness and for Gevurah included in it, and they stand for the opposite.

A bracketed note brings parallels. The Zohar at the end of Acharei explains along these lines the phrase “those who banded together against Havayah,” said of Korach’s company: Korach too wanted to separate the Gevuros and keep them apart rather than include the left in the right, and the Zohar at the opening of Parshas Korach says that the left is always included in the right, while Korach sought to exchange right for left.

The same idea explains “to execute the vengeance of Havayah upon Midian”: the name Midian (Midyan) is related to madon, contention, and strife is itself the opposite of the Name Havayah. The Alter Rebbe refers to his discourse on that verse in Parshas Mattos, which opens “Arm from among you”; a Kehot note points to the Zohar at the beginning of Yisro (II, 68a), which reads Yisro’s title “priest of Midian” as alluding to “a contentious woman” (eshes midyanim).

That discourse explains that the punishments in the Torah are a Gevurah whose purpose is kindness: they bring a rectification to the sinner’s soul.

The model is a father who strikes his son so that he will walk “in the way of the good”: the blow serves the son’s good. The harsh Gevuros, by contrast, want judgment for its own sake.

The Zohar on Balak (III, 192b) tells that when the Holy One, blessed be He, offered the Torah to Samael, he asked what was written in it, was told “You shall not murder,” and refused it, for his dominion is over killing. Such forces, which want judgment for itself, are the ones of whom it is said, “Havayah—those who contend with Him shall be shattered.”

The Alter Rebbe now notes the cantillation mark on the Name Havayah in this verse: gershayim, two strokes, which Pardes Rimonim (Rabbi Moshe Cordovero’s work of Kabbalah), in its Gate of the Cantillation Marks, calls “two gereshes,” sung as two sounds; the following paragraphs explain what this signifies. In Or HaTorah, as a Kehot note quotes, the Tzemach Tzedek adds a further reason: driving out the external forces comes through the encompassing light, the level of Gershon.

To sweeten the judgments and nullify them, a light is needed from the Chesed of Arich Anpin (the “Long Face”), the outer level of Keser, the divine will above intellect and emotion, which is far above the Chesed of Z’eir Anpin. The Chesed of Z’eir Anpin is called chesed olam: in Isaiah (54:8) these words plainly mean “everlasting kindness,” but the Idra Rabba (Zohar III, 133b) takes them as the Chesed of Z’eir Anpin, and the maamar reads olam as “world,” a kindness measured to the world.

The Psalm says of this Chesed, “And Yours, Ado-nai, is kindness, for You repay a man according to his deeds”: it is measured by what people do, so that the response from above matches the arousal from below. That is why it is called kindness of the world: it is within limit and measure.

Because the Chesed of Z’eir Anpin answers to people’s deeds, it leaves the accusers an opening: they can point to the deeds. Bilam, the prophet whom Balak hired to curse Israel, did exactly this, searching out the places where Israel would later sin, in order to argue for their guilt and arouse the attribute of judgment against them.

The Chesed of Arich Anpin is of a different order. It is the supernal Chesed, called “and abundant in kindness” (verav chesed, one of the Thirteen Attributes of Mercy), and since it shines from the Infinite One itself it has no limit or measure. Iggeres HaKodesh, section 10, explains “The kindnesses of Havayah” through the Zohar’s two kinds of Chesed: chesed olam, given in measure like the fixed measure of charity, and the supernal Chesed, rav chesed, which “shines and spreads forth without limit or measure” and is drawn down by giving without limit.

At this level the arousal from below does not reach at all: the Chesed flows constantly of itself, not in response to anything people do. As the prophet says, “for He desires kindness”: G‑d gives it because He desires to give, not because it is earned.

When this Chesed is drawn down, all judgments are nullified and the accusations have nothing to hold on to. The Alter Rebbe refers to what he wrote on the verse “But Havayah your G‑d would not listen to Bilam,” which tells that G‑d turned Bilam’s curse into a blessing.

Yet this Chesed, being without limit, cannot itself come down below, for the lower levels could not receive it. It must be enclothed in the Chesed of Z’eir Anpin, which serves as its vessel.

A parenthesis gives an analogy: the Chesed of Z’eir Anpin is called the “body,” and rav chesed is like its soul. A soul without a body could give only spiritual influence; only through a body can it bring about physical effects. In Likkutei Torah, Shelach (the explanation of “I am Havayah your G‑d”), the Alter Rebbe describes the same pair: the Chesed of Atzilus is the vessel of rav chesed, as a body is for a soul.

So too rav chesed stands above Chesed as such: it is not one more kindness but the source of kindness, as the phrase “Father of mercy” speaks of G‑d as the father, the source, of the attribute of mercy.

Its influence can therefore reach Beriah, Yetzirah and Asiyah only through the Chesed of Atzilus, which the Tikkunei Zohar counts as part of the “body”: “Chesed is the right arm.”

The Idra Rabba (Zohar III, 133b) says that “true kindness” belongs not to the life of the body but to the life of the soul: the Chesed of Arich Anpin is the soul of the kindness. There the Idra sets the inner Chesed of the Ancient of Ancients beside chesed olam, the Chesed of Z’eir Anpin.

A second reason why this Chesed must be enclothed: since the unlimited Chesed does not depend on deeds, the external forces, the powers opposed to holiness, could also draw from it.

Therefore it must pass through the Chesed of Z’eir Anpin, and so the revelation of the supernal Chesed reaches only the side of holiness. The Alter Rebbe refers to his discourses on “And a man wrestled” and on “We were slaves… and Havayah our G‑d took us out,” where “Havayah our G‑d” is Abba and Imma, which enclothed the arms of Arich Anpin.

Now the cantillation is explained. Gershayim has two movements, one above the other, which signals a drawing-down from a very high place, from Arich Anpin to Z’eir Anpin, in two stages; the first stage is from the Chesed of Arich Anpin to Abba and Imma, Chochmah and Binah.

The second stage is from Abba and Imma to Z’eir Anpin, and so the cantillation has two movements. A bracket refers to the discourse beginning “The Song of Songs” (the first in Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim), where the two levels of chasan, “bridegroom,” a word read as chas darga, “he descended a level,” are two stages of descent: the Infinite Light first descends into the Torah as supernal wisdom, and from there into the lower worlds.

The bracket also refers to the discourse “You have captured my heart” (libavtini), whose doubled letter beis is read as two hearts: there the two hearts are two drawings-down of life-force, from Chochmah and from the attributes. When the Name Havayah of Arich Anpin is drawn into Z’eir Anpin, the forces of judgment that contend with Z’eir Anpin are nullified, and this is “those who contend with Him shall be shattered.”

The Zohar’s reading meriv vav now becomes clear. The letter vav, whose numerical value is six, stands for the six emotive attributes of Z’eir Anpin, in which Chesed prevails because their Gevurah is included in the right.

The accusers above, in the chambers (heichalos) of the external forces, who accuse Israel, stand against precisely this blend of Gevurah within Chesed, and so they are called “those who contend with Him.” The text cites from the account of Bilam, who set out to curse Israel, “And the anger of Elokim flared because he was going”; such contenders are shattered when the Name Havayah of Arich Anpin is revealed in Z’eir Anpin.

A parallel is the revelation after the sin of the Golden Calf, when “Havayah passed before his face and called: Havayah, Havayah,” and the Thirteen Attributes of Mercy were revealed. Forgiveness for that sin could come only because Moshe drew down the Thirteen Attributes of Mercy of Arich Anpin, a level above the measured Chesed of Z’eir Anpin.

That is why Moshe insisted, “If Your face does not go, do not bring us up from here.” By the measure of judgment the people were not worthy after their sin, so only a revelation from this higher level could carry them.

In “and called: Havayah, Havayah” the cantillation separates the two Names: the first is the Havayah of Arich Anpin, which Moshe “called” and drew into the second, the Havayah of Z’eir Anpin; the Idra Rabba (Zohar III, 138a) says that Moshe said them to bring mercy down from Atika Kadisha to Z’eir Anpin. This drawing-down passes “before his face,” and the face is Chochmah and Binah, as in “A man’s wisdom lights up his face”; so here too the light passes through Abba and Imma.

Here too, since the Chesed of Arich Anpin reaches Z’eir Anpin through Abba and Imma, the Name Havayah in “those who contend with Him shall be shattered” carries the two-part gershayim.

A bracketed addition: gershayim also suggests gerushin, “driving out.” The service of the Levite family of Gershon is likewise to drive out the external forces, and it too works by drawing rav chesed into the six extremities of Z’eir Anpin, which are called the six colors. Earlier in Likkutei Torah, Nasso (the discourses on “Take a census of the sons of Gershon”), the Alter Rebbe explains that Gershon, carrying the curtains of the Mishkan, drew the attributes of Arich Anpin into Z’eir Anpin, and that when this light of Chesed is revealed the external forces are driven out.

The name Gershon is read as gresh, “drive out,” followed by vav and then nun, as the text says was written above. This matches the Zohar’s reading of “Havayah—merivo shall be shattered” as meriv vav: the external forces that contend with the vav are driven out.

The second section of the maamar takes up the next words of Chanah’s verse, “Upon him, in the heavens, He will thunder.”

The first stage has been explained: the Chesed of Arich Anpin, enclothed in the Chesed of Z’eir Anpin, shatters the masters of judgment. Beyond that, G‑d will do a further wonder and “thunder” against them afterwards from the Chesed of Arich Anpin itself, not enclothed in the Chesed of Z’eir Anpin.

Unenclothed, this Chesed acts with greater force, for enclothement in the Chesed of Z’eir Anpin somewhat conceals it. The Zohar explains “upon him, in the heavens” as the dew of Atika drawn down upon Z’eir Anpin, which is called “heavens”; Atika, “the Ancient One,” is the innermost level of Keser, above Arich Anpin.

The Alter Rebbe aligns his reading with the Zohar’s explanation of “upon him” as the dew of Atika. The “crystalline dew” (tala dibedolcha), the Zohar’s name for the flow from the head of Atika, and Mocha Stima’ah, “the hidden brain” of Arich Anpin, are higher than the Chesed of Arich Anpin, because that Chesed is actually enclothed: in Chochmah, and from there in Z’eir Anpin.

Mocha Stima’ah and the crystalline dew are above actual enclothement, since they belong to the first three levels of Keser. These are counted as the lowest level of the Emanator itself rather than as part of what is emanated.

From this level comes “He will thunder” against the accusing masters of judgment, with greater force than the shattering of “those who contend with Him.” The text also points to the Zohar on Vayishlach (I, 166b), which applies Chanah’s words “those who contend with Him shall be shattered” to Yaakov’s wise dealings with Eisav.

So too David sang, in his song of thanks when G‑d saved him from all his enemies, “Havayah thunders from the heavens, and the Most High gives forth His voice.” David was humble and did not ascribe his deliverance to his own merit but to grace, as in “And I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious”: kindness given freely, not earned.

That grace came through the revelation of Arich Anpin, from which his rescue “from the hand of all his enemies” was drawn. “The Most High” (Elyon) in the verse is Arich Anpin, since its Chesed is called the supernal (ila’ah) Chesed.

The next verse of David’s song, “And He sent forth His arrows,” is the flow of the supernal Gevuros of holiness, which consume and destroy the accusing forces of judgment. These are the enemies of G‑d because they hold back the flow of divine blessing.

The verse ends, “And He will give strength to His king.” Strength, oz, is Gevurah, the left line; it is to reach only “His king,” Malchus of Atzilus, to arouse love, as in “His left hand is under my head,” and not the external forces, for whom Gevurah would turn into judgment.

The left line has two sides. The first is “His left hand is under my head”: it lifts the souls of Israel up in “flashes of fire” of love, like the warmth that made Yaakov’s flocks “come into heat.”

All union depends on this arousal of Gevurah, the burning love that brings warmth and intensity, which coldness alone could not bring, as explained above. The Alter Rebbe refers to his discourse in Parshas Tazria, “The world is like a portico.”

The second side is the Sages’ rule, “The left pushes away and the right draws near” (Sotah 47a).

From this pushing-away side, through the chain of descent, the external forces, the masters of harsh judgments, draw their nourishment. They are only a left that pushes away, with no right that draws near: in them the left is not included in the right.

Once the contenders are shattered by the Chesed of Arich Anpin, the Gevuros too serve only as “strength to His king,” like the left hand under the head. Gevuros included in Chesed make the flow stronger and the life-force greater, as in “Havayah will give strength to His people.”

A bracket points to the Zohar on Lech Lecha, which explains “And He will give strength to His king” as the supernal strength given to the King Mashiach. It also points to the Ramaz’s commentary on the Zohar on Emor, on “Seek Havayah and His strength.”

This continues the bracket opened at the end of the previous paragraph. Earlier in Likkutei Torah, Nasso, the Alter Rebbe explains three “hands”: the great hand, which is rav chesed, the Chesed of Arich Anpin (the Torah’s phrase at the splitting of the Sea); the strong hand, “His left hand is under my head”; and the upraised hand. Here the great hand corresponds to “Havayah—those who contend with Him shall be shattered,” sung with the gershayim.

“And He will give strength” can then be read as “the strong hand,” and “He will raise the horn of His anointed” as “the upraised hand,” so that the phrases of the verse match the three “hands.” The verse “and to him shall be the gathering of the peoples,” from Yaakov’s blessing of Yehudah, is added for the raising of the anointed king.

Drawing the Chesed of Arich Anpin down so that it is revealed below is not part of the natural order of the chain of descent. Only the great tzaddikim can bring it down, through their prayer.

This was Moshe’s service and toil in prayer: to draw down the Thirteen Attributes of Mercy, and it was he who drew them down. When they were revealed, the Torah says, “Moshe hastened, and bowed to the ground, and prostrated himself.”

A bracket brings the Idra Rabba (Zohar III, 138a), which exclaims how great was the strength of Moshe, who brought the attributes of mercy down below.

The Zohar on Shelach (III, 161b) explains Moshe’s prayer after the spies, “And now, let the power of Ado-nai be great,” as the strength that comes from the hidden Atika, and the Alter Rebbe explains the verse in Parshas Shelach as well. The difference: after the Golden Calf (Ki Sisa) Moshe drew down the thirteen attributes, the thirteen tikkunim of the beard of Arich Anpin, while after the spies (Shelach) only nine are mentioned, the nine tikkunim of the beard of Z’eir Anpin; in the Idra’s imagery the “beard” is the set of channels through which mercy flows down.

The Idra Rabba (Zohar III, 139a) teaches that when the holy oil descends from the precious supernal beard of Atika Kadisha to the beard of Z’eir Anpin, that beard is arranged in nine tikkunim.

The Idra Zuta (Zohar III, 295a–b) says that Moshe said these nine tikkunim the second time, and although he did not now mention the thirteen, “the matter depends on intention”: he directed his intent to the Mazla and so recalled it. The Mazla (“flowing”) is a part of the beard of Arich Anpin from which the flow of mercy streams down, and the Idra Zuta calls it “the power of Havayah.”

So “the power of G‑d” in Moshe’s prayer is a drawing-down from the Mazla of Arich Anpin, to shine into the nine tikkunim of the beard of Z’eir Anpin. The bracket ends with further places: the Idra Rabba; the end of Parshas Nasso in the Zohar (III, 147a), which says that Moshe said the attributes of mercy twice, first the thirteen of the hidden Ancient One and then the nine included in Z’eir Anpin; and the Mikdash Melech, Rabbi Shalom Buzaglo’s commentary on the Zohar, there.

In Gan Eden too this level of Arich Anpin is revealed only to the great tzaddikim, who inherit the “four hundred worlds of yearning,” drawn from Arich Anpin. The Zohar to which a Kehot note points (I, 123b and the following page) says that every tzaddik who studies Torah has two hundred worlds of yearning for the Torah, and two hundred more for giving himself over each day for the sanctification of G‑d’s Name.

The Alter Rebbe refers to his explanation of “I am Havayah your G‑d, who brought you out of the land of Egypt,” the closing verse of the passage of tzitzis, in Likkutei Torah, Shelach. There he explains that the supernal Chesed, rav chesed, will be revealed in the time to come, and that the Chesed of Atzilus is its vessel, as a body is for a soul.

Further sources on “Havayah—those who contend with Him shall be shattered”: the Talmud in Rosh HaShanah (17a) applies Chanah’s words to those who stretched out their hands against the Beis HaMikdash, and on the same page reads “abundant in kindness” as G‑d inclining the scales toward kindness. The Alter Rebbe also refers to his discourse on “And a man wrestled with him.”

The Jerusalem Talmud derives the nine blessings of the Rosh HaShanah Musaf prayer from the nine mentions of the Name in Chanah’s prayer, at whose end is written “Havayah will judge the ends of the earth,” for Rosh HaShanah is the day of judgment, as many of its prayers say. The Babylonian Talmud in Berachos (29a) gives the same teaching, for on Rosh HaShanah Sarah, Rachel and Chanah were remembered.

Of Rosh HaShanah it is written that “the sons of G‑d came to present themselves before Havayah, and there came also” the Satan among them; the Targum renders “And it was the day” as “the day of judgment at the beginning of the year.” The Zohar at the beginning of Bo (II, 32b) reads the “sons of G‑d” as the appointed ministers who oversee people’s deeds and become accusers on that day; the Zohar on Tetzaveh and Pinchas is cited as well.

The chief accusation is over the casting off of the yoke below, which makes people unworthy of the revelation of G‑d’s kingship. The Alter Rebbe refers to his discourse “Sound the shofar on the New Moon,” and of this it is said that “those who contend with Him shall be shattered.”

“And He will give strength to His king” is the strength in which G‑d, as it were, is clothed when He reigns, as in “Havayah reigns; He is clothed in majesty; Havayah is clothed in strength.” The nine mentions of the Name in Chanah’s prayer draw nine Sefiros into Malchus, which in essence is a single point, and they are drawn from the nine upper Sefiros.

So too “And the strength of the King loves justice”: the King’s strength is like “I will exalt You, my G‑d, the King,” the exaltation of His kingship, and like “And now, let the power of Ado-nai be great,” which the Alter Rebbe explains in Parshas Shelach.

Further places in the Midrash are cited on “And He will give strength”: in Shemos Rabbah, section 1, as the Kehot note quotes from Or HaTorah, the verse refers to David, whose kingship the Holy One, blessed be He, exalted; on Yisro, to the miracles in the days of Shlomo; and on Nasso, “strength” is read as kingship. The Midrash on Eichah, on “He has cut off in fierce anger every horn of Israel,” is cited as well.

The raising of the horn comes through teshuvah. The Alter Rebbe refers to his explanation in Torah Ohr, Parshas Yisro, on “Remember” and “Keep,” where “my horn is raised high” is the level of Atika.