שרי אשתך

תורה אור – בראשית. מאמר שרי אשתך לא תקרא שמה שרי כי שרה שמה וגו'

Torah Ohr – Bereishis. The maamar "Sarai Ishtecha" ("Your wife Sarai — you shall no longer call her Sarai, for Sarah is her name, etc.")

The Hebrew is given phrase by phrase, each followed by a translation and explanation. Sources and notes are at the end.

שרי אשתך לא תקרא שמה שרי כי שרה שמה וגו'.

"Your wife Sarai — you shall no longer call her Sarai, for Sarah is her name, etc."

הנה שינוי השם של שרה הוא להיות לה בחי' הולדה. כמארז"ל: שרי לא תלד כו'. וא"כ צ"ל הלא מעלת היו"ד גבוה מן הה' כי יו"ד חכמה ה' בינה?

The name-change of Sarah was in order to give her the capacity for childbirth. As the Sages teach:¹ "Sarai cannot give birth" — implying that the new name, Sarah, could. If so, a question arises: the letter yud (י) is higher than the letter heh (ה) — for yud corresponds to Chochmah (wisdom) and heh to Binah (understanding).² How then was Sarah's power of birth increased by replacing a yud with a heh?

ונודע, כי עיקר הולדה מבחינת חכמה. לפי שחכמה בחי' אין, והחכמה מאין כו'. משא"כ בינה נק' יש כו'. ואיך נהפוך הוא שלהיות לה כח ההולדה לוקח מאתה כח היו"ד וניתן לה כח הה' במקומו כו'?

It is well known that the primary power of generation comes from Chochmah. This is because Chochmah has the quality of ayin (nothingness), as the verse states: "And wisdom — from nothingness it is found."³ Binah, by contrast, is called yesh (existence, somethingness).⁴ How, then, is it inverted — that to give her the power of childbirth, the power of the yud is taken away and replaced by the power of the heh?^[a]

והענין: כי אברהם ושרה הם בחי' ח"ע וח"ת כו', ששרש אברהם הוא בבחי' חכמה דאצי'.

The explanation is as follows. Avraham and Sarah correspond to Chochmah Ila'ah (Supernal Wisdom) and Chochmah Tata'ah (Lower Wisdom) respectively,⁵ in that the root of Avraham is in the aspect of Chochmah of Atzilus (the World of Emanation).^[b]

והנה למעלה כך הוא המדה, עיקר ההולדה להיות מציאות הולדה חדשה הוא ע"י צמצום דוקא. כי אם הי אא"ס ב"ה מתפשט כמו שהוא בבחי' א"ס לא הי' אפשר להיות שום התהוות מציאות כלל, אפי' ע"י רבוא רבבות השלשלות. כי כשמו כן הוא אין סוף להתפשטותו וכו'.

Above — at the level of Avraham — the principle is this: the primary act of giving birth to a new being requires tzimtzum (contraction) specifically. For if the Ohr Ein Sof⁶ (the Infinite Light of G‑d) were to expand in its infinite manner, no created being could ever come into existence — not even through countless chains of worlds. For, as its name says, its expansion is truly without end.^[c]

משא"כ למטה בבחי' שרה כו', הוא להיפך ממש. שאם היה האור מתצמצם היה חשך והעלם והסתר גמור. ועיקר התהוות המציאות הוא ע"י בחי' התפשטות והרחבה דוקא וכו'.

Below — at the level of Sarah — it is precisely the reverse. Here, if the light were to contract, the result would be complete darkness, concealment, and hiddenness. The primary formation of existence below requires expansion and spreading forth specifically.^[d]

(וכנודע בענין ג' קוצין של היו"ד. שהקוץ התחתון מקור וכח הבינה תלוי בקוץ העליון כו').

(And this is as is known regarding the three crowns of the letter yud: the upper point, the body of the letter, and the lower point. The lower point, which is the source and power of Binah, depends on and is rooted in the upper point.⁷)^[e]

וכנודע בענין תמונת ב' ההי"ן.

And this is as is known regarding the two forms of the letter heh.⁸

ומה שנתוסף לאברהם ה'. "אברם אינו מוליד כו'", אברהם הוא בחי' ח"ע כו', היינו כמו שמפורש במקרא: "כי אב המון גוים כו'", ע"ד בחי': "הנפש אשר עשו בחרן", בחי' העלאות מזלעו"ז כו'.

As for what was added to Avraham — the letter heh: the Sages teach that "Avram cannot father children,"⁹ whereas Avraham is the aspect of Chochmah Ila'ah — as is spelled out in the Torah: "for you are a father of a multitude of nations,"¹⁰ in the mode of: "the souls they had made in Charan,"¹¹ which is the aspect of elevating sparks from zeh le'umat zeh¹² (the side that stands opposite holiness) back to holiness.^[f]

אבל להולדת יצחק סט' דקדושה לא היה צריך, כי אדרבה כל סטרא דקדושה בחי' ביטול ולא התפשטות כו'.

But for the birth of Yitzchak — which was within the domain of holiness — this approach was not needed. On the contrary, all that is of the side of holiness is characterised by bittul¹³ (self-nullification), not by expansion.

משא"כ לשרה נתוסף הה' ללידת יצחק כו'.

Whereas for Sarah, the heh was added specifically for the birth of Yitzchak. For it is the quality of expansion — represented by the heh, the aspect of Binah — that enables the bringing-forth of a new being in the lower worlds.^[g]

(וע' לקמן פ' חיי שרה בד"ה יגלה לן טעמי'):

(See below, in Parashas Chayei Sarah, the maamar beginning "Yegaleh Lan Ta'amei".)

Notes

1. Rosh Hashana 16b: "A change of name [changes one's fate] — as it is written: 'Your wife Sarai, you shall no longer call her Sarai, for Sarah is her name,' and it is written: 'I will bless her and also give you a son from her.'" Sarai could not give birth; when her name changed to Sarah, the power of childbirth was granted to her.

2. The letter yud (י) corresponds to the sefirah of Chochmah, and the letter heh (ה) to Binah — as is known in Kabbalah.

3. Iyov 28:12: "And wisdom — from nothingness it is found." Chochmah has its source in ayin (nothingness) — it is beyond definition and comprehension.

4. Binah is called yesh (existence, somethingness) — it is from Binah that the defined, comprehensible reality begins to emerge from the power of Chochmah.

5. Cha'ah (ח"ע) — Chochmah Ila'ah (Supernal Wisdom); Cha't (ח"ת) — Chochmah Tata'ah (Lower Wisdom). Avraham corresponds to Chochmah Ila'ah (the Chochmah of Atzilus) and Sarah to Chochmah Tata'ah.

6. Aa"s (אא"ס) — Ohr Ein Sof, the Infinite Light of G‑d.

7. The letter yud has three points: an upper point, the body of the letter, and a lower point. In Kabbalah: the upper point corresponds to Atik Yomin, the body of the yud to Chochmah, and the lower point is the source of Binah. The power of Binah depends on the upper point — it is rooted in and connected to Keter and Chochmah above it.

8. The letter heh appears twice in the Divine Name (Havayah): the upper heh (corresponding to Binah) and the lower heh (corresponding to Malchus). The difference in the form of the two hehs — one open and one closed — alludes to the difference between Binah and Malchus.

9. When his name was Avram, he did not have the power to be a father to many; when his name changed to Avraham, this power was added to him. See Bereishis Rabbah (47:1 and following).

10. Bereishis 17:5: "No longer shall your name be called Avram; your name shall be Avraham, for I have made you a father of a multitude of nations."

11. Bereishis 12:5: "And Avram took Sarai his wife, and Lot his nephew, and all their possessions that they had accumulated, and the souls they had made in Charan." The souls made in Charan refer to the converts whom Avraham and Sarah brought to G‑d-consciousness in Charan.

12. Zal'u"z (זלעו"ז) — zeh le'umat zeh, "this one opposite that one" (cf. Koheles 7:14): the side that stands opposite holiness. The conversions of Avraham and Sarah in Charan represent the elevation of sparks from the realm of zeh le'umat zeh — the side opposite holiness — back to holiness itself.

13. Bittul — self-nullification, the nullification of independent selfhood and self-will. The essence of holiness is bittul, not self-expansion.