The Secret of the Bird's Nest: The Power of a Chasan and Kallah to Bring Down Exalted Souls
Lesson No. 201 | Motzaei Shabbos Kodesh Parashas Eikev, the eve of 19 Menachem Av 5759 - Sheva Berachos at Beis Yaakov HaYashan
An in-depth discourse on the secret of marriage and bringing souls into the world according to the teachings of the Arizal.
The holy Arizal writes in Parashas Eikev, and it is also brought in the name of his disciple Rabbi Chaim Vital, that the more distant a shidduch (marriage match) is and the harder it is for the couple to find each other, the more genuine it is. This is also what Rebbe Nachman writes in Torah 70, that Moshe Rabbeinu had to endure many hardships; he was sentenced to death, brought to the gallows, exiled from Egypt, and fled to Kush—all of this until he reached his soulmate, Tzipporah.
The name "Tzipporah" conceals a tremendous secret. Tzipporah in gematria (numerical value) equals 370, which is the secret of "Sha Nahorin" (370 lights)—the secret of the holy Shechinah (Divine Presence). In contrast, the word "Ken" (nest) has a gematria of 150. When the Shechinah descends from the exalted level of 370 lights and constricts itself to 150 lights, this is the secret of "Ken Tzippor" (a bird's nest). When "Ima Ila'ah" (the Supernal Mother, representing the Divine attribute of Understanding) stands upright in her full stature, she is in the aspect of 370 lights. However, when she bends down and hovers over her children to protect them, she constricts herself into a "nest" of lights.
The entire secret of a chasan (groom) and kallah (bride) is to restore the 370 lights to the Supernal Mother. The purpose of the union between a chasan and kallah is to elevate the Shechinah (Divine Presence) back from the state of a "nest" to the complete state of a "bird," and to return the supernal lights to their rightful place.
New Souls and the Six Hundred Thousand
There are two aspects of spiritual unions in the world of Atzilus (Emanation): an inner union and an outer union. After the Beis HaMikdash (Holy Temple) was destroyed, we lost the inner union and were left only with the outer union. If we still had the inner union, we would be able to bring completely new souls down into the world. However, today, after the destruction, there are almost no new souls; everyone is merely a reincarnation or a combination of previous souls.
Moshe Rabbeinu merited the inner union, the secret of "face to face," and therefore he merited Tzipporah, who embodies the 370 lights. In the merit of this, he was able to bring his sons, Gershom and Eliezer, into the world. They were completely new souls that transcended the very beginning of creation. Rebbe Nachman brings down that Moshe Rabbeinu brought down sons, each of whom was equivalent to all six hundred thousand souls of Israel.
But the truth is that anyone can merit this! If the chasan and kallah are holy and pure, they can bring down souls that are equivalent to all six hundred thousand. Today, there are about 12 million Jews in the world (after the terrible assimilation, which is worse than all the destructions). Since there are only six hundred thousand (600,000) root souls, it turns out that if we divide 12 million by six hundred thousand, every twenty Jews share a single root soul. They are bound to one another because they are actually sparks of the exact same soul.
Souls That Are Not of This World
Rebbe Nachman told his followers: "We are not at all from the world of today." The souls that Rebbe Nachman of Breslov brings down into the world are souls that have no connection whatsoever to this physical world. Whoever draws close to Rebbe Nachman is no longer interested in anything material—not honor, not money, and not worldly desires.
"My Soul Thirsts for God, for the Living God"
The only thirst such a person has is solely for Hashem, may He be blessed. He wants to go out into the forests and roar like a lion out of sheer longing. The moment a person reaches such a state of self-nullification, he transforms his heart into a "void within me." When the heart becomes a vacuum, filled with air that is completely clean of desires, he can break through walls, doors, and buildings. True connection to the tzaddik removes all the spirit of folly and the lusts of this world from a person.
The Secret of the Shittim Trees and Flying to the Beis HaMikdash
When the Beis HaMikdash was standing, there were tremendous spiritual unions. Yaakov Avinu went down to Beersheva and to Migdal to plant Shittim (acacia) trees there, from which they later constructed the Mishkan (Tabernacle). These Shittim trees were planted on the shores of the Sea of Galilee (Kinneret), and the Midrash says that they are "standing Shittim trees"—they never stop singing. The holy Zohar says that the Kinneret is the "harp of the Land of Israel," and from there come all the songs and melodies.
In Migdal Tzavaya (near Tiberias), there was an ancient custom not to touch these Shittim trees and not to cut them down, but rather to let them grow for hundreds and thousands of years because of their holiness. From that very area of Migdal and Tzippori, there were holy Jews who would literally fly through the air on Friday afternoons to reach the Western Wall and the Beis HaMikdash. During the time of the Temple, when there were inner spiritual unions, people would fly through the air out of sheer holiness.
The Holiness of Marriage: The Highest of the High
The entire Parashas Eikev and the secret of the "bird's nest" are actually speaking about the secret of spiritual unions and the question of how a person can merit to bring down completely new souls. The holy Rebbe Nachman said that he wonders what people are rejoicing about at weddings. The only true joy at a wedding is the emunah (faith) that through it, one can bring down the holy souls of tzaddikim.
The author of the Arugas HaBosem writes that from the engagement until the wedding, every single day is like Yom Kippur. It is a time of teshuvah (repentance) and the cleansing of sins. A chasan and kallah, in their supernal root, are the highest of the high, something that human thought cannot grasp at all. But precisely because it is the highest thing in the world, the Sitra Achra (the Other Side, forces of impurity) overpowers it the most.
There is no middle ground here: if they conduct themselves in holiness and purity, it is the highest thing there is, above the worlds of Atzilus, Beriah, Yetzirah, and Asiyah (Emanation, Creation, Formation, and Action). But if, Heaven forbid, they do not conduct themselves in holiness, it can fall to the lowest possible place. The choice is in the hands of each and every individual, and according to their conduct in holiness, so do they merit righteous children.
The Secret of King Chizkiyahu and the Birth of Menashe
Sometimes we see tzaddikim who have corrupted children, and there are deep secrets in this. The holy Arizal explains that every person is composed of several souls. Even if it is decreed upon a person to be born wicked, a spark of a tzaddik's soul is attached to him so that he will have free will and be able to rectify himself.
This was the case with Menashe, the son of King Chizkiyahu. It was decreed upon him to be born an unparalleled wicked person, but because Chizkiyahu married the daughter of Yeshayahu the Prophet, the decree was torn up and it was decided to implant within Menashe the soul of a tzaddik so that he could rectify himself.
But what happened? Chizkiyahu showed the ministers of Babylon the Holy of Holies. The moment he revealed the secret and showed them the Ark and the Cherubim, the secret flew away and vanished. When the secret is banished and modesty is blemished, the holy soul also flees. Because Chizkiyahu revealed the Holy of Holies, that same soul of a tzaddik that was supposed to be implanted within Menashe fled from him, and he was left with only wickedness.
From here we learn how great the responsibility is to guard the holiness of marriage and the secret of the Holy of Holies of the Jewish home. When we believe in the lofty root of the wedding and guard it in holiness, great tzaddikim are born from this, and from these holy shidduchim (marriage matches) the King Mashiach will surely come and redeem Zion speedily in our days, Amen.
Part 3 of 3 — Lesson No. 201