The first verse of the parashah and the Sages’ commentary on it are used in Hasidism as a platform for emphasizing the importance of the Itarauta Deletata – ‘the awakening of the person coming from Below’ and thereby provoking divine assistance from Above.
c
c
“When a woman at childbirth (lit. brings forth seed) bears a male” - said our Sages (Nidah 31a) “If the woman bears seed first, she will bear a male; [if the man bears seed first she will bear a female], for there are two types of awakening: the first is when he awakens first, through repentance and good deeds, and is followed by help coming from Above, as it is said (Yoma 38b) “If one comes to impurify, he is assisted”.
The second awakening happens when he does not attempt to repent or do good deeds, unless he is at first awakened from Above, then he awakes himself to repent.
And the difference between the two types of awakening, I heard from the Ba’al Shem Tov as the secret of our saying “If the woman bears seed first, she will bear a male”, male who is mercy etc… and so it is, if the awakening starts from Below, which corresponds with the female source, so afterwards comes the male source which is mercy, and vice versa comes the strict judgement.
(ר’ יעקב יוסף מפולנאה, בן פורת יוסף)
The first verse of the parashah and the Sages’ commentary on it are used in Hasidism as a platform for emphasizing the importance of the Itarauta Deletata - ‘the awakening of the person coming from Below’ and thereby provoking divine assistance from Above. If the awakening occurs in this order, the Divine inspiration or revelation will be all merciful. But in the event that the awakening begins from Above without previous preparation from Below, it will be accompanied by Din - strict judgement.
If we look at this model, it appears that although there is a surprising statement here regarding the frequent conception of Hasidism as emphasizing the nullification and the passive element, there is also an uninterrupted continuation of a significant line in Jewish mysticism, which emphasizes the place of man. The Zohar at the beginning of Parashat Lech-Lecha describes Abraham’s path to faith as a way that has to begin with his own awakening, and accordingly in the Zohar, Terah’s departure with Abraham to the Land of Canaan is emphasized. It is described at the end of Parashat Noah, even before hearing the Divine commandment “Go forth from your native land and from your father’s house to the land that I will show you”. Divine speech, according to the Zohar, comes only as a result of Abraham’s self-awakening to go to the Land of Canaan. In this way, the Zohar urges us not to wait passively for the Divine voice that guides the path, but to seek it out through self-inquiry; to wake up for action and search, and then wait for approval and blessing from Above.
This principle is also expressed in the preparation of a vessel Below for the blessing from Above. If there is no vessel that can hold the blessing and draw the blessing into it, the blessing has nowhere to be applied, and therefore it will not come. Therefore, according to the Zohar, Elisha asks the woman who needs a blessing what she has in the house, and only thanks to the “jug of oil” does the oil abundantly come from Above. Therefore, the Showbread must be constantly on the table in the Temple, in order to continue the blessing from Above (hence the need to leave the bread on the table during Birkat Hamazon, and the Kabbalistic custom not to remove it throughout all the Shabbat). The blessing does not lie in an empty place.
We return to Abraham: Abraham is perceived as the prototype of a Ba’al Sod - holder of a secret, through which the Zohar describes the entrance of man into the “world of faith,” that is to say to the world of Sod - secret, an entry that is dependent, as stated, on man’s activism.
It seems that the source of these things can be seen in Tractate Hagiga. On the basis of the mitzvah that opens Tractate Hagiga, that of Seeing, the commandment to see and to be seen by God teaches the majority of the mystical teachings of our Sages known to us. Regarding the commandment of seeing, the first mishnah in the Tractate brings the argument between Beit Hillel and Beit Shammai regarding the question of who is the minor who is exempt from this mitzvah: “Who is a minor? Anyone who cannot ride on his father’s shoulders and go up from Jerusalem to the Temple Mount, according to the House of Shammai; The House of Hillel say: Anyone who cannot hold his father’s hand and go up from Jerusalem to the Temple Mount”. It seems that through both sides of the argument it is possible to discern the reason for the minor’s exemption: In order to see and to be seen, one needs independent standing. It is only on the basis of this premise that there is disagreement over the degree of independence that is required of him (and perhaps even so can explain the exemption of “a deaf mute, an incompetent, or a minor… or an old person who cannot stand upon his feet” - all this is in contrast to other mystical worlds, who actually prefer these disabilities).
If we return to the literal meaning of the first verse, which speaks of children’s birth, it seems that indeed, in the process of procreation itself, which is described in the verse - ” “When a woman at childbirth bears a male” - it seems that Divine grace is dominant; but at the same time, how many tears of upbringing are required of us as parents to attach ourselves to the upper grace, awakening it again and again.
