The Secret of the Divine Soul: The Tremendous Illumination That Descends on the Day of the Bar Mitzvah
Class No. 80 | Wednesday, Parashas Vayigash, 8 Teves 5757 - Pidyon HaBen. Wednesday, Parashas Shemos, 22 Teves 5757 - Bar Mitzvah.
On the day of the Bar Mitzvah, a person merits to receive for the first time the Divine soul that is hewn from beneath the Throne of Glory, after having been illuminated until this age by \
King David says regarding the day of the Bar Mitzvah:
"I have given birth to you this day; ask of Me, and I will make the nations your inheritance" (Tehillim 2).
The holy Zohar reveals a tremendous secret: Only on the day of the Bar Mitzvah does a person receive his soul. Until the age of thirteen, the soul within the child is considered a "living soul" (nefesh chayah), as it is stated regarding the creation of the world:
"Let the earth bring forth the living soul."
The Zohar Chadash (Parashas Bereishis) states that until the age of thirteen, this is not yet the Divine soul. A child can be good, listen to his father and mother, keep Shabbos, and become accustomed to performing mitzvos, but everything still operates from the power of that "living soul." Only on the day he turns thirteen years old does he receive the Divine soul that is hewn from beneath the Throne of Glory.
This is the same soul about which it is said, "He who exhales, exhales from His very essence." This is the soul that Hashem breathed into Adam HaRishon (the First Man), through which he saw from one end of the world to the other, his stature filled all the Sefiros (Divine emanations), and he knew all the secrets.
Why Do Animals Not Speak?
In light of this, the holy Zohar asks a profound question: If we say that until the age of thirteen a child only has a "living soul," the same soul that is shared by all animals and constitutes the power of movement (the "moving soul"), then why do animals not speak like a child? After all, a child begins to speak already from the age of two, and if it is the exact same soul, why does an animal not speak its entire life?
The Zohar Chadash offers three answers to this: The first answer is that animals were formed from thicker and coarser earth, whereas man was created from lighter and more refined earth. Due to their intense physicality, animals do not possess the power of speech. The second answer is that animals cannot lift their heads upward; their heads are always bowed, and in order to speak, a person must lift his head slightly.
The third answer, and the deepest of all, is that animals do not lift their heads to the heavens, and therefore they do not see the firmament. The firmament is similar to the Throne of Glory, and from there the power of speech is drawn. Since they do not look up to the heavens, the power of speech is taken from them.
The Secret of Looking to the Heavens and the Return of Knowledge
The Zohar asks: What is the significance of looking to the heavens, and how is it connected to the power of speech? The Zohar explains that looking to the heavens is a very great matter, and upon it depends all of a person's power of speech and daas (knowledge/awareness). Therefore, we find with Daniel that he opened his windows during prayer toward the heavens and Jerusalem, as it is stated:
"And his windows were open in his upper chamber toward Jerusalem."
From here comes the halachah that a synagogue must have windows, and a person should pray facing a window that is open to the heavens.
The Zohar brings clear proof of this from Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon. After he destroyed the Beis HaMikdash (Holy Temple), Hashem decreed upon him to become an animal for seven years. Daniel advised him to redeem his sin through charity to the poor of Israel, and he did so for twelve months. But on the day he stopped giving charity and closed his storehouses, while the word was still in his mouth, he was transformed into an animal and thrown into the field in the form of an ox.
After seven years, the Tanakh describes how the decree was sweetened:
"And at the end of the days I, Nebuchadnezzar, lifted my eyes to heaven, and my understanding returned to me" (Daniel 4).
As an ox, he suddenly had the idea to lift his head to the heavens. The moment he lifted his eyes to the heavens, his human form immediately returned, and his *daas* (knowledge) came back to him.
From here, the Zohar learns a tremendous foundation: when a person lifts his eyes to the heavens, his da'as (spiritual awareness) returns to him. Every time a person feels that his *da'as* is disappearing and his memory is weakening, he should immediately lift his head to the heavens, which correspond to the Throne of Glory, and his da'as will immediately return to him.
A Crown of Fire: The Bar Mitzvah of Rabbi Elazar
Continuing with that same secret of receiving the Divine soul, the Zohar goes on to relate the awesome and exalted day of the Bar Mitzvah that took place in the home of the Godly Tanna, Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai, on the day of the Bar Mitzvah of his son, Rabbi Elazar.
Rabbi Shimon notified all the Tannaim to come to a special seudah (festive meal), and he covered the entire house with precious carpets. When the Tannaim asked him about the meaning of the seudah, he told them: "Today, my son Rabbi Elazar is being crowned with a holy crown. On the day of a Bar Mitzvah, the Bar Mitzvah boy is crowned with a crown of fire." Rashbi (Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai) added and said: "If we were worthy, we would see a crown of fire upon every holy and pure Bar Mitzvah boy."
Rabbi Shimon had not yet finished his words, and the entire house filled with fire. The holy Tannaim went outside out of great fear and panic. After standing outside and waiting for several hours, they saw that the house was not burning down, and they understood that this was a heavenly fire that had descended from on high in honor of the Bar Mitzvah.
At that time, the Tannaim saw a wondrous sight: a giant eagle of fire descending and surrounding the house. The Zohar Chadash says that these were four wings of fire that surrounded the house from its four sides. This was the holy soul that had now descended to rest upon Rabbi Elazar, because on the day of a Bar Mitzvah, the boy receives a soul of fire with four wings.
The Surrounding Light of Chayah and Yechidah
The holy Arizal writes in Shaar HaGilgulim that if a person had not blemished his soul, he would have remained with those spiritual wings. With the help of these wings, the true tzaddik merits to ascend during sleep to hidden, supernal chambers—to the chambers of Rabbi Shimon, Rabbi Akiva, and Rabbi Meir—and to hear Torah from the mouth of Hashem Himself.
The holy Tannaim stood and saw how a soul entirely of fire descended from the highest heavens. The soul is much larger than the body, and only a tiny portion of it enters the body. The body serves merely as a "shoe" for the tip of the soul's toe. The other, higher parts of the soul—the levels of Chayah and Yechidah (the highest levels of the soul)—have no vessels within the body, and they remain as an Ohr Makif (Surrounding Light), which envelops the person in a flaming fire.
Slowly, the fire subsided, and the holy soul penetrated into the body of Rabbi Elazar. At that moment, he became pure and refined, for all blemishes are forgiven on the day of a Bar Mitzvah, and now a new soul of fire penetrated him. From here onward, the boy's life work begins—to guard the holiness and purity of that immense Divine soul he merited to receive.
Part 1 of 2 — Lesson No. 80
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