Sukkot: The Secret of the Exile of the Shechinah (Divine Presence) and Bringing the Ten Commandments Home

Lesson No. 2054 | Purim 5747 / Parashat Ki Tisa 5747

The holy Arizal explains that the essence of serving Hashem begins with weeping over the exile of the Shechinah (Divine Presence) and the state of the Jewish people. The article reveals how sins caused the fall of the letter Yud, and how we rectify this in daily life, especially through maintaining shalom bayit (peace in the home) and appreciating one's wife, as taught by Rabbi Akiva.

The holy Arizal explains the verse:

"Hashem will roar from on high, and from His holy habitation He will give forth His voice; He will roar mightily over His dwelling place" (Jeremiah 25:30).

The word "sha'og" (roar) hints at the aspect of demons, while "yishag" (He will roar) hints at the holy name Sha-dai. When Hashem sees that we learn and act out of the grasp of demons and impure husks, He roars over His dwelling place. If a person does not have the aspect of "Pour out your heart like water before the presence of Hashem," he must know that he has no service of Hashem at all.

If a person is incapable of sitting in a corner and crying over the exile of the Shechinah (Divine Presence), crying over the fact that we have no Holy Temple and that the Jewish people are immersed in troubles – his service is lacking. The Jewish people desecrate Shabbat, they do not wake up for Tikkun Chatzot (midnight lament), and how much we must cry over this! Even if we assume there are tens of thousands of Jews who wake up for Chatzot, what do we do about another fifteen million Jews? A person needs to cry over all those millions of Jews, because if just a few more Jews would wake up for Chatzot – the Geulah (Redemption) would have already come.

The Secret of the Letter Yud and the Fall of the Shechinah (Divine Presence)

When our mother Rachel, who is the aspect of the Shechinah (Divine Presence), falls down below the heavens and is not in her place, this is the secret of the blemish in the name Sha-dai, which is missing the letter Yud. Since the sin of Adam HaRishon, we have fallen into a world of demons and spirits, and to rectify this we must return the letter Yud to its place. The giving of the Ten Commandments was intended for this exact purpose – to return the letter Yud to the name Sha-dai.

Our mother Sarai needed to rectify and return the letter Yud. When Hashem changed her name to Sarah, He added the letter Hei to her but subtracted the letter Yud from her. If Sarah had merited to receive the letter Hei without losing the Yud, her name would have been "Yashrah". The word "Yashrah" has the same gematria (numerical value) as "Yitzchak and Rivkah", and also the same gematria as "Va'etchanan", "Shirah" (song), and the word Tefillah (prayer). Sarah includes within her Yitzchak and Rivkah, but the moment she said to Avraham, "My outrage is upon you," she lost the letter Yud.

The Struggle to Return the Ten Commandments

Hashem gave us the Ten Commandments in order to return the letter Yud to Sarah, so that she would be in the aspect of "Yashrah". This is the secret behind the words of Shimshon HaGibor who requested: "For she is upright (Yashrah) in my eyes." The very request for the aspect of "Yashrah" was correct, but the moment he added the words "in my eyes," he lost the grace.

Through the sin of the Golden Calf, we once again dropped Rachel into the impure husks. This is the depth of the verse "He will roar mightily over His dwelling place" – the Shechinah (Divine Presence) is surrounded by demons and spirits, and as long as we have not rectified this, even a person's Torah study might go to undesirable places. The sin of the Golden Calf caused us to lose the Ten Commandments; the tablets were broken and the letters flew into the air.

This was the purpose of the ten spies – they were sent to rectify the sin of the Golden Calf and return the letter Yud. Moshe Rabbeinu hoped that through the ten spies, the letter Yud would return to its place. But the spies said, "For he is stronger than us," because they saw that the letter Yud was in the heavens and claimed that it was impossible to bring it down and redeem it.

Fulfilling the Ten Commandments Inside the Home

Our work today is to return the Ten Commandments and the letters that flew away. How do we do this in practice? Through fulfilling the commandments in daily life, and especially inside the home.

In the Ten Commandments it is written, "You shall not murder" and "You shall not steal." A person might think he is far from these prohibitions, but when he comes home and gets angry at his wife or is strict with her – he transgresses "You shall not murder." When his wife toils and works for him, and he does not appreciate it and takes everything for granted – he transgresses "You shall not steal."

Instead of getting angry, a person should tell his wife that everything is in her merit, exactly as Rabbi Akiva did. When Rabbi Akiva returned home with his twenty-four thousand students, he said to them:

"Mine and yours – is hers!"

Rabbi Akiva merited to ascend on ladders of gold because he knew how to appreciate his wife. He told her: "My wife, everything is in your merit! The fact that I learn Torah – is in your merit. The fact that I understood the lesson – is in your merit. If I did not have a woman of valor, I would not have been able to hear even one lesson." When a person has a woman of valor, he can merit to learn Torah, and he must know and recognize that everything is in her merit. In this way, we rectify the blemishes, return the letter Yud to its place, and merit to raise the Shechinah (Divine Presence) from the dust.

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