The Secret of the Holiness of the Women of the Desert and the Long Letter Nun

Class No. 28 | * Friday, Parashas Pinchas, 16 Tammuz 5755 (Continued from No. 27)

The Midrash reveals why Hashem delayed the request of the daughters of Tzelofchad and the women of the desert for forty years. Through the secret of Moshe Rabbeinu's separation from his wife, the immense spiritual stature of these women is revealed. They merited to rectify the deepest depths of the kelipos (impure spiritual husks), and in their merit, the Jewish people received the Land of Israel.

The Midrash states that Hashem specifically delayed the women's request for forty years. He orchestrated their thoughts so that it would not even enter their minds to go and ask their question until the very end of the forty years in the desert. Why? Because as long as they did not come to ask, Hashem did not command them to marry. The Midrash explains that this was done to show Moshe Rabbeinu something profound, since Moshe Rabbeinu himself had separated from his wife.

The Bride of Moshe Rabbeinu

The holy Zohar (Parashas Nasso, Part III) asks what happened when Hashem said to Moshe, "But as for you, stand here with Me." Regarding the verse:

"And it came to pass on the day that Moshe finished (kallos) setting up the Mishkan"

The Zohar expounds on the word "kallos" (finished), which is written without the letter Vav, reading it instead as "kallah" (bride). Rabbi Yossi teaches that when the bride entered the wedding canopy, she entered through Moshe. Moshe Rabbeinu, so to speak, marries Knesses Yisrael (the Congregation of Israel), and the holy Shechinah (Divine Presence) is Moshe's bride.

At the time when Hashem spoke to Moshe, even before the Giving of the Torah, at the revelation of the Burning Bush:

"Remove your shoes from your feet"

At that exact moment, the entire mountain shook, and the whole earth trembled. The archangel Michael asked Hashem: "Master of the Universe, how can You tell a person to leave his home? For if You wish to dismantle a person's home, the entire world will be dismantled! When a person lacks peace with his wife, the world is destroyed. After all, it is written, 'Male and female He created them, and He blessed them,' so how can You tell him to leave his wife?" The moment a person truly leaves his wife, the entire earth shudders.

Hashem answered him: "He is not leaving his wife. The physical wife represents the aspect of the Shechinah Tata'ah (the Lower Divine Presence), and I now want him to cleave to the Shechinah Ila'ah (the Higher Divine Presence)." The time had come for Moshe Rabbeinu to begin cleaving to the Higher Divine Presence, and this is the mystical secret behind the command, "Remove your shoes."

The Intrinsic Holiness of the Women of the Desert

Here, the Midrash returns to those women who waited forty years. Hashem orchestrated their thoughts for forty years in order to show Moshe Rabbeinu something wondrous. Hashem said to him: "You, Moshe Rabbeinu, married and afterward separated from your wife based on a Divine command. But come and look at these simple women, who were never commanded at all, yet they separated themselves on their own accord." They did not desire a physical married life; rather, they wanted to sanctify themselves as the holy of holies to Hashem, blessed be He.

The Heichal HaBracha of Komarno explains this concept through the verse spoken regarding the daughters of Tzelofchad:

"The daughters of Tzelofchad speak properly; you shall surely give (nason titten) them a hereditary possession"

In the word "nason" (give), there is an elongated final letter Nun (a Nun Rabbasi). What does this long Nun symbolize? The Heichal HaBracha explains that these women merited the spiritual level of the World to Come, the level of "A woman of valor is the crown of her husband."

The long letter Nun, which descends below the baseline of the text, demonstrates that they descended into the very depths of the kelipos (impure spiritual husks) and rectified them. They merited to burn away all the kelipos, about which it is said:

"And the house of Yaakov shall be a fire, and the house of Yosef a flame, and the house of Esav for stubble"

They truly merited to burn down the entire house of Esav, and it was specifically in the merit of the holiness and self-sacrifice of those women that we merited to receive the Land of Israel.

Part 1 of 4 — Class No. 28

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