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Orchard of Delights Ki Tisa
meant to turn what transpired at Sinai into an ongoing experience. this question also addresses the troubling presence (and, in this case,
The secret, mystical meaning, the sod, hinges on the fact that Moses success) of evil in this world. Although the Talmud offers several
gathered “the entire assembly.” The Slonimer Rebbe explains that answers, its conclusion indicates that human beings as yet cannot
although individual Jews sin, fall short of the mark, or stray from completely understand the answer to this question (Berachot 7a-b).
their roots, there is a soul level he calls “all of Israel,” the collective In the Talmudic discussion, the Sages explain that at the burning
source of Jewish souls that always remains in a state of perfection, bush God sought to reveal Himself more fully to Moses, but out of
which no sin can blemish. This root source of Israel’s souls, by humility, fear, and awe, Moses turned his face away. Now that Moses
definition, remains pure and untarnished. The core of an individual sought to see God’s glory, God only agreed, as it were, to reveal His
soul, no matter how far it is from its true potential or how far it back. Perhaps, at the burning bush Moses was aware of God’s hand
strays from its Jewish identity, never loses that intrinsic connection in the evil of Israel’s bondage and was fearful of confronting Him
to “all of Israel.” for allowing such evil to thrive. After the sin of the Golden Calf, as
a leader of his people, Moses now felt he had the responsibility to
Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach used to say that while every Jew may
not be holy, every Jew is the Holy of Holies. In other words, Jews directly confront the issue and ask God what possible glory He could
may make all sorts of mistakes and act totally improperly on the derive from allowing evil to exist in the world.
outside, but they are still fundamentally connected to their inner A number of fascinating stories in the Talmud involving Rabbi
essences, their Holy of Holies. He made it a habit of trying to see Akiba shed light on these complex existential issues. The first
beyond peoples’ superficial exteriors and actions, so that he could incident involves four great Sages who “entered the Pardes,” a state
focus on their inner Divine sparks. This was in fact one of the Ba’al of deep meditative consciousness where their souls were elevated to
Shem Tov’s cardinal teachings, as he labored his entire life to achieve an extremely lofty level. Of the four, only Rabbi Akiba entered and
this spiritual level and transmit it to his students. exited in peace; of the other three, one died, one became a heretic, and

The Arizal would proclaim each day before his prayers that he one became mentally unstable. Rabbi Akiba warned them beforehand
was taking upon himself the mitzvah of loving each and every that on such a level of revelation, they would inevitably be confronted
Jew as if each one was himself. His prayer then became dedicated by Divine paradox on all levels, including that of God’s goodness and
to the collective totality of Israel; it transcended the limits of his the existence of evil; therefore, they must prevent themselves from
own ego and individual concerns and was focused instead on “all of being overwhelmed by theses paradoxes by attempting to envision
Israel.” The Arizal also formulated a kavvanah (spiritual intention) God’s oneness underlying any apparent dualistic contradictions they
to be recited and contemplated when performing mitzvot. Part of might see (Chagigah 14b). It is clear that Rabbi Akiba was well aware
this formula reads as follows: “For the sake of uniting the Holy One of the intrinsic paradox at play in probing the very essence of God.
Blessed is He and the Shechinah…. in the name of all of Israel.” This Another highly symbolic Talmudic passage recounts the story of
kavvanah attests to the fact that the Arizal wanted each person to Moses’ ascent to heaven during his time at the top of Mount Sinai.
consciously connect to all of Israel when performing a mitzvah. For Upon arriving in the heavenly realm, Moses discovers God placing
it is from that elevated, pure, and holy place that every Jew draws crowns on the Hebrew letters. Moses asks God what he is doing, and
the energy to discover his or her own unique role and actualize his or God responds that in the future a person named Akiba the son of
her own potential. Joseph will derive heaps of laws from these crowns. Moses is curious
to see this scholar, and he is transported into the future. He finds
In this section, we once again see how a Hebrew word, in this
case “and he gathered,” may be viewed from various interpretive himself sitting at the back of Rabbi Akiba’s study hall. To Moses’

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