Parshat Devarim
“So I [Moses] sent messengers from the desert of Kedemot to Sichon, king of Heshbon, with words of peace, saying, Allow me to pass through your land: I will go along by the highway, I will turn neither to the right nor to the left” (Deuteronomy 2:26). The Talmud tells us that the desert of Kedemot is one of five names for the desert of the Sinai mountain. The root word of Kedemot, kedem, means “before” or “primordial,” and it is called this as the Torah given at Sinai/Kedemot preceded the world (Shabbat 89a).
Rashi explains that Moses offered the King Sichon peace by learning from a precedent from God himself who offered the Torah to Esau and Yishmael before he gave it to Israel, even though he knew they would not accept it. Therefore, Moses states that he followed God’s example by offering peace to Sichon even though he knew he would not accept it. Rashi also gives another example: God commanded Moses to speak gently to Pharaoh and ask him to “let my people go,” even though God knew he would not accept and only after ten plagues would he agree to let them go.
On a simple level we can learn from this Rashi the importance of offering peace whenever possible, even if one is convinced that it will not be accepted. By doing so, one can feel he or she has done the right thing and made every effort to come to a peaceful conclusion.
Yet, beyond this straightforward explanation there is something very enigmatic about this Rashi. On a simple, literal level, we can understand by the root word of Kedemot meaning something that went before, that Rashi brings his insight based on Moses learning from how conducted Himself in other previous cases, and thus, Moses acted according. Yet, Rashi goes further and mentions that the Torah God offered to Esau and Yishmael pre-existed the world and further he mentions that Moses also learned from God who pre-existed the world.
Before attempting to probe a possible deeper layer within this Rashi, it is important to establish the sources for the idea that the Torah did indeed precede the world. The reference to the Torah pre-existing the world is referred to in various texts as the Torah Kedumah, the “primordial Torah,” the same root as in the desert of Kedemot.
First it is important to establish that the idea of a primordial Torah is found throughout Jewish text. One discussion in the Talmud proposes that the Torah existed for 974 generations before this world (Shabbat 88b):
And Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi said: When Moses ascended on High to receive the Torah, the ministering angels said before the Holy One, Blessed be He: Master of the Universe, what is one born of a woman doing here among us? The Holy One, Blessed be He, said to them: He came to receive the Torah. The angels said before Him: The Torah is a hidden treasure that was concealed by You 974 generations before the creation of the world, and you seek to give it to flesh and blood? As it is stated: “The word which He commanded to a thousand generations” (Psalms 105:8). “What is man that You are mindful of him and the son of man that You think of him?” (Psalms 8:5). Rather, “God our God, how glorious is Your name in all the earth that Your majesty is placed above the heavens” (Psalms 8:2). The rightful place of God’s majesty, the Torah, is in the heavens.
From this interchange the Sages understood that since the Torah, the word of God, was given to the twenty-sixth generation after Adam, the remaining 974 generations must have preceded the creation of the world.
A different explanation proposes that the Torah existed for 2000 years before creation (Bereishit Rabbah 8:2). In fact, according to the Zohar, the Torah is considered the blueprint of creation: “God looked into the Torah and created the world” (2:161a).
In yet another source, the Talmud (Pesachim 54a) asserts that the Torah preceded our physical world as written: “God made me [the Torah] as the beginning of His way before His deeds of [creation]long ago” (Proverbs 8:22;). Thus, we see in all these cases the Jewish tradition understands that the Torah is indeed primordial, preceding this material, physical world.
Rashi could have confined his understanding of the desert of Kedemot being mentioned in the context of Moses offering peace to Sichon as simply based on the root word meaning “before,” as Moses had learned from what God done before hand. Yet, his emphasis on the concept of the Torah being primordial opens his comment to deeper interpretations. We will now explore a number of possible allusions embedded in the words of Rashi.
The Sefer Yetzirah, the most ancient of Kabbalistic texts, contains the following statement: “The end is wedged in the beginning and the beginning in the end” (1:7). The entire book of Deuteronomy, the last book of the Five Books of Moses, spans a mere thirty-seven days. During this time Moses reviews what has occurred during the previous forty years and strengthens and prepares the people to enter the Land of Israel. Not only does he review a number of times different aspects of receiving the Torah at Mount Sinai, but here according to Rashi the Torah hints to it actually preceding this world altogether.
It is interesting to note that on the first word of the Torah, bereishit, Rashi interprets the letter beit, of the word [“b”] as meaning, “for the sake of,” rather than its usual interpretation as “in” [the beginning]. He then quotes the same verse from Proverbs (8:22) quoted above to highlight the Torah’s primordial existence: “God made me [the Torah ] as the beginning of his way before his deeds of long ago [creation].” Thus, as the Torah reaches its textual end, it can be seen to be wedged not only in the beginning, but even before the “beginning” of creation.
As discussed above, Moses offered peace to Sichon based on the precedent of God offering the Torah to Esau and Yishmael. Moses’ emulating God teaches us not only the importance of attempting to find peaceful solutions to disagreements but when contemplating the introduction by Rashi to the concept of the primordial existence of the Torah, it also reveals God’s primal intent that by giving the Torah it would assist mankind to rise above the inherent conflicts in nature and the animal world in order to forge a way to peace and cooperation.
There is another layer of meaning regarding Moses learning to offer peace from God offering the Torah to Esau and Yishmael. The numerical value of the name Esau equals exactly the word for peace in Hebrew, shalom (376)!
Along with the above teachings in Jewish sources for the primordial existence of the Torah, there is another source that asserts that the Torah is composed of “black fire on white fire” (see Rashi on Pesachim 54a). The letters of the Torah are considered to be the black fire, while the white fire is the parchment on which the letters are written. On a deeper level, the black fire is that which is revealed in this world, encompassing the various levels of interpretation, from the literal to the mystical. The white fire represents a level of understanding Torah which will only be revealed in the Messianic era. The present it is hidden to human intellect even of the highest order.
Rashi’s statement that God offered the Torah to Esau and Yishmael even though he knew they would not accepted it, can be understood on the level of the black fire. Yet, in the primordial Torah, the white fire includes every possible outcome, thus opening the door for free-will. This idea is referred to in modern cosmological terms as parallel universes where each universe is based on choices that could have been but were not made. The paradox of God knowing the future while at the same time allowing true free-will is considered the paradox of paradoxes, a subject beyond the scope of this discussion.
Although the Arizal, the great Kabbalist of Tsfat, did not openly discuss levels of Divinity before the initial tzimtzum, the contraction of God’s Infinite Being in order to create space for a finite world, other Kabbalists did teach these secrets. In the book Emek HaMelech the author discusses a pre-tzimtzum level in Divinity where the Infinite One measured/contemplated within Himself in potential all that would/could come into being in actuality. This idea is similar to the idea of the white fire, where every possibility exists and could manifest in potential according to a fine balance between mankind’s gift of free will and God’s overarching Providence.
Although Esau and Yishmael did not choose to receive the Torah at that time, God offering of the Torah to them paves the way for God’s ultimate intention that in the future the entire world will recognize God’s oneness and the spiritual principles of the Torah.
One additional avenue to explore is based on the angels claim, discussed above, that the Torah belongs in heaven. The same Talmud continues by Moses, encouraged by God, giving reasons why the Torah belongs below in the physical, material world. He quotes different episodes in the Torah which have to do exclusively with matters that are only relevant to human beings in this world and not to the world of angels.
In light of this human/angelic exchange, the question is raised: what Torah were the angels referring to that should remain in heaven if it deals with the earthly realms foreign to them? There have been many attempts to answer this question as it affects our very perception of what Torah is. A similar question is asked regarding what is exactly meant that the Torah is the blueprint of creation. One answer is that this is referring exclusively to the seven days of creation which comes into being through the very letters that describe creation. This is based on the idea that the Hebrew letters of the building blocks of creation. Each letter is a potent powerhouse of God’s light and wisdom.
Another idea developed by commentators throughout the generations is that all of the characters and “stories” of the Torah are archetypal in nature and are based on spiritual principles contained in the primordial Torah. The same can be said for all of the mitzvot in the Torah, each one revealing a different aspect of God’s will and the essence of the soul.
The Chatam Sofer explains clearly that the primordial Torah was purely spiritual in nature and did not exist in its present form. Further, the stories and mitzvot in the Torah were only written in the present form when they actually occurred. They were not predetermined in the primordial Torah. That is why Rashi explains when different parts of the Torah were actually recorded by Moses, at the command of God.
The Ramban in his introduction to his Torah commentary states that the entire Torah is composed of names of God. In other words, the Torah can be read in a completely different light than just the literal understanding. This is the basis of what is referred to as PaRDeS, the methodology of studying Torah according to its literal (P; pshat), alluded to (R; remez), metaphorical, allegorical and symbolic levels (D; drash), as well as the mystical meaning of the text (S; sod).
Additionally, Kabbalah speaks of alternative, mystical alphabets where letters are exchanged one for another according to a prescribed methodology. Thus, the Torah can be read on many different levels according to the alphabet that is used. Rashi and the Talmud on occasion explain different ideas in the Torah according to these alternative alphabets. Additionally, there is an entire mathematical code engraved in the numerical values of the letters and words of the Torah. The art of gematria reveals deeper and deeper levels of connection and meaning based on numerical equivalencies.
Another teaching proposes that all the letters of the Torah were strung together as one long chain and words were only formed as actual events occurred. Others assert that the Torah manifests uniquely in each of the four Kabbalistic worlds: The World of Emanation (Atzilut), the World of Creation (Briah), the World of Formation (Yetzirah) and our physical, material world, the World of Action (Assiyah). The building blocks of creation, the letters of the Torah, are simply permuted and manifest to both create and reflect the reality of each of the worlds. In essence it is the same essential Torah on the energetic and spiritual level yet understood completely differently depending on which world it is manifest. Thus, the angels perceived the Torah on their level and perspective and had a hard time understanding how it was manifest on a different level of reality. Some assert that the angels did not object to the Torah that is revealed in the lower worlds, rather they objected to the inner dimensions of the Torah being revealed to human beings whom they felt were unable to understand such lofty and exalted concepts.
The Ba’al HaLeshem comments that the Torah that we have today reflects the reality of existential exile not the pristine, spiritual primordial Torah. Yet, on a deep level our Torah does reflect higher realities but in a language that speaks to human reality in the physical, material world. Everything that happens in this world is a reflection of energies that exist in higher worlds, while everything that happens in this world also has an effect in the upper worlds.
The Midrash claims that in the future Messianic era “A new Torah will come out from Me” (Vayikra Rabbah 13:3). Yet, in his Thirteen Principles of Faith, the Rambam claims that the Torah that we have now is eternal and will never be changed. This seeming contradiction is explained to mean that it will be the same Torah but we will understand it on such a deeper level it will seem “as if” new.
One of the cardinal teachings of the Maggid of Mezritch is that the exalted World of Atzilut is also here. In other words, the four Kabbalistic worlds are not merely hierarchal, but they are all unified and present in a holistic union. Therefore, we can also understand that the primordial Torah is not something from the distant past, something that only came “before,” but the primordial Torah is here in this world and is manifest in our present Torah as well. Likewise, Rebbe Nachman among other Hasidic masters, teaches that the World to Come is not just a future level of reality but is a world that is constantly coming in the present moment.
We have presented here many deep and profound ideas that need much thought and contemplation. It is quite amazing, yet at the same time the simple general principle of the Torah, that in every word are myriads of levels of understanding. The unusual reference to the desert of Kedemot has opened for us world upon world of meaning and has taking us on a journey from pre-creation to the Messianic era and beyond. “The end is wedged in the beginning and the beginning in the end.”
