*Please note – what follows is not a verbatim translation of the Ben Ish Chai, but rather my reading of parts of it. There are passages and themes that I have deliberately not gone into and – although I have done my best – it is completely possible there are important things I’ve missed. The original Hebrew is available online at Hebrew Books. I have not seen the English translation, but I understand Ben Ish Chai
* * *
“The Lord will make you the head, not the tail; you will always be at the top and never at the bottom — if only you obey and faithfully observe the commandments [of the Lord your God that I enjoin upon you this day]” (Deut. 28:13).
Rabbi Yosef Haim begins his interpretation by making what seems like an unrelated point. The people of Israel are known by the two names of their forefather – Ya’akov (as in Beit Ya’akov) and Yisrael (as in Benei Yisrael, or very commonly just Yisrael). The second of the two names – the one given to Ya’akov by Hashem – is considered the greater of the two. This is when RYH uses the midrashic method of breaking down the words in order to plunge deep into Kabbalah and ultimately lead us back to the quoted verse. Both names – Ya’akov and Yisrael — start with the letter yud:
יעקב
ישראל
But each yud – and hence each name — symbolizes a different way of people’s being in the world. Ya’akov is made up of yud with akev (=heal):
י + עקב
Yisrael is made up of yud and (when the other letters order is switched around) lerosh (=to [become] a head – the very same word used in the quoted verse):
י + לראש
The yud of Ya’akov stands for the yud at the end of the name we commonly pronounce for hashesm’s name, Adonai. This according to Kabbalah represents the lowest of the sefirot, the manifestation of Hashem’s kingdom, presents in the earthly world.
The yud of Yisrael represents the yud of Hashem’s most sacred name, the Tetragrammaton, the name of havaya that starts with the letter yud. The Tetragrammaton represents the highest of the sefirot, that of Crown that is absolutely beyond anything earthly.
Going back to the verse RYH interprets ” if only you obey and faithfully observe the commandments” in accordance with the common kabbalistic practice of performing commandments with the intent of unifying two of Hashem’s aspects represented by these two names mentioned. In RYH’s siddur, as in many other kabbalistic siddurim this is actually represented graphically by printing the two tames intertwined yud, alef, hey, salet, etc. yud. If you fulfill the commandments, you will combined these names and so never be at the bottom level of the sefirot, that of kingdom. Instead, the combination of the mundane world with the upper world will always cause you to be “a head”. In other words you will imbue the mundane world with deep meaning.
Using a different method of interpretation, the numerical method of gimatria, RYH goes yet a step further in connecting his interpretation to the words of the verse. ”you will always be at the top [למעלה] and never at the bottom [למטה]” – the numerical difference between
at the top למעלה 175
and -
at the bottom למטה 84
= 91
The numerical value of the two names of Hashem is also
91 = אדוני+הויה
So when you fulfill the commandments and bring together the two names of Hashem, you change yourself from a simple Ya’akov, at the bottom, 81 and add the combined numerical value of the divine names – which as we pointed out just so happens to be 91. This give us 175 and turns the person performing the commandment into Yisrael, lema’alah, “at the top”.
A bit further on, RYH brings in the tradition about the souls being hewn from a place higher than the angels in order to add yet another interpretation to the dichotomy between ‘a head’ / ‘at the top’ as apposed to ‘the tail’ / ‘at the bottom’. This tradition doesn’t mean that people are better behaved than angels or necessarily more virtuous than them, but it does count for something. People that have sinned are like an object that fell from on high, got lost, and now must be ‘returned’. When an object is lost, the person closest to the lost object returns it to its rightful owners, its rightful place. When it isn’t an object, but a person, a soul that has gotten lost, either the angles or Hashem must return them. Had the people been hewn from a lower place, the angels would have been closer to them than G-d would have been. The angels would than have been obligated to ‘return’ them to their place. However the angels are beings of perfection and total truth. Sticking to their absolute truth would have led them to the conclusion that a person who has sinned must pay the price, to quote the harsh biblical phrasing “the soul that sinned – it shall die!” It is therefore very fortunate that Hashem decreed that people’s souls should be from a higher place.
This brings RYH back to the verse. Hashem will not put you ‘at the bottom’, ‘the tail’; will not hew you from below the place of the angels. Instead Hashem will put you ‘at the top’, ‘the head’, He will hew you from a place higher than that of the angels and closer to Him. Hashem, who calls people ‘my brothers and friends’, is obligated to “return” them to their right place, for the commandment is to return all that your ‘brother’ or ‘friend’ has lost. Fortunately, He is closer to the place of the souls than the angels and His truth is unlimited. He is the Master of Mercy. He does not want the ‘death of the dead”, i.e. the sinner, “but rather that he return from his wicked ways and live!”.
And here is the conclusion you probably already read on the previous page:
People’s “life”, the possibility of repenting, is then dependent on the commandment of returning a lost object. Resisting the temptation of saying “finders keepers, losers weepers” is not just the fulfillment of a mundane commandment. Nor is it just a parable for the divine. It is an enactment of the very same divine compassion that allows Hashem to fulfill the commandment of returning a lost soul to its place. The simple act of returning someone’s lost belongings is an expression of the possibility of mending the world and beyond. It can give us the encouragement and strength not only to impact things around us, but to do something that is much harder… –to allow Hashem to “return” us. In other words: to change ourselves.
This — according to Rabbi Yosef Haim – is the explanation of: ” if only you obey and faithfully observe the commandments”, “The Lord will make you the head, not the tail; you will always be at the top and never at the bottom”.
