Recap — after the fall, the journey back begins
Welcome back to the eighth lesson on the maamar Basi LeGani 5711 — and today we'll complete ois beis.
Let's recall for a moment where we stopped. In the previous lesson we learned the fall. We saw that “tachtonim” means this very physical world, and that through the Sin of the Tree of Knowledge “the Shechina withdrew from earth to the firmament” — the Divine Presence withdrew and drew away from the earth. And we learned the precision: just as the ikar of the Shechina was specifically here below, so the ikar of the withdrawal is specifically from here, from the earth.
But the fall is not the end of the story. For the moment the Shechina withdrew, the opposite journey began — the journey back. And if on the side of the descent there were forces that pushed the presence higher and higher, then on the side of the ascent there arose people who drew it back down and down, until it would return home.
Who are these people? How exactly does the journey back work? And why does everything depend, in the end, on one man? That is the drama of the part before us.
Seven falls, and seven tzaddikim — a ladder of generations
The maamar continues: “and afterward there stood seven tzaddikim and brought the Shechina down below.” But before we understand the seven who brought it down, we need to understand from where exactly they brought it down — how high the presence had managed to draw away.
For the Sin of the Tree of Knowledge was not alone. After it came more sins, generation after generation, and each sin pushed the Shechina one more step upward, one more firmament further from the world. Our Sages count seven: the Sin of the Tree of Knowledge drew it away to the first firmament; after it the generation of Kayin, after it the generation of Enosh, the generation of the Flood, the generation of the Dispersion, the people of Sodom, and the Egyptians in the days of Avraham. Seven sins — and at their end the Shechina was already in the seventh firmament, the most distant, as it were at the edge of the heavens, utterly cut off from the earth.
And now the rectification begins, and it is a perfect mirror of the damage. Just as seven sins raised it seven steps — so come seven tzaddikim, generation after generation, and each one brings it down one step back.
The maamar gives us the first example: “Avraham merited and brought the Shechina down from the seventh firmament to the sixth.” Avraham Avinu, through his service, draws the presence one step downward — from the seventh firmament to the sixth. After him Yitzchak brings it down from the sixth to the fifth; Yaakov from the fifth to the fourth; and then, in the chain of generations, Levi, Kehos, Amram — each one a further step down.
Imagine a tall building in which the light had dimmed up to the seventh floor, and in each generation a person rises and relights one floor, from the top down, until the light has almost returned to the lobby, to the ground floor. That is exactly what the first six tzaddikim did — they brought the Shechina almost all the way to the end. Almost. For the last step, the hardest of them all, still remained.
Moshe the seventh — who brings it down to the earth itself
And then the maamar reaches the climax: “until Moshe, who is the seventh — and all sevenths are beloved — brought it down below to the earth.”
Let's be precise with the words. “Until Moshe” — all six tzaddikim who preceded him brought the Shechina down step by step, but they stopped at the first firmament. They brought it close, right above the ground — but not to the ground. The final step, from the first firmament to the physical earth itself, remained open. And the one who took it was Moshe.
“Brought it down below to the earth” — Moshe is the one who completed the journey. He was not content for the presence to hover close; he brought it all the way down, to this physical world, to that very place from which it had withdrawn at the Sin of the Tree of Knowledge. And through what? Through the giving of the Torah. When the Torah was given on Mount Sinai, the Shechina descended and dwelt once more here below — “Basi LeGani,” I have come into My garden.
Feel the power of the moment: the home that was abandoned thousands of years ago — the Master of the house returns to it. And this did not happen on its own — it required seven generations of service, and at their head Moshe the seventh, who closed the circle.
And in the middle of the sentence the maamar hides three words, almost in a whisper, within parentheses: “and all sevenths are beloved.” All sevenths are beloved. Why davka the seventh is the one who merited to complete it? What is so special about the number seven? This the maamar will leave for the next ois — and we will open the next lesson with it. For now we'll just hold the fact: davka the seventh, Moshe, is the one who brought it down to the earth.
The precision — the ikar of the drawing-down is specifically below, and specifically through Moshe
And now the maamar makes the same beautiful precision we already met on the side of the descent — only now it is on the side of the ascent. It says: “the ikar of the matter of drawing-down is through Moshe.” That is, of all seven tzaddikim, the ikar is Moshe.
And why davka him? Not only because he was the last in the chain. Rather, in the maamar's words, “for it was Moshe specifically who brought it down below to the earth.” The first six did tremendous work — but they brought the Shechina down between the firmaments, from one spiritual level to another. Moshe is the only one who brought it down to the physical earth itself. And therefore davka he is the ikar.
And now see the perfect symmetry, and this is the point of the whole part. On the side of the descent, from below to above, we said: the ikar of the withdrawal is the Sin of the Tree of Knowledge, because it is the one that withdrew the Shechina from the earth. And on the side of the ascent, from above to below, the maamar now says: the ikar of the drawing-down is specifically the bringing-down to the earth, and this was done through Moshe.
Two opposite movements — one upward, one downward — but both revolve around exactly the same single point: the earth. The earth is the axis. In the place where the loss was greatest — there too the rectification is most central. The greatest lack was that the presence left the earth; and therefore the greatest achievement is to return it to the earth.
Imagine a dear person who left home and traveled away to the edge of the world. True, every step he takes on the way back is precious. But the moment that truly closes the wound — it is not when he reaches the neighboring town, but when he crosses the threshold and enters the home once more. The entry into the home is the ikar, because that is exactly where the lack was. So it is exactly with the Shechina: the ikar is the final step, to the earth — and it was done davka through Moshe.
Summary and introduction — what is the secret of ‘the seventh’?
So what did we see today?
We completed ois beis. We saw that just as seven sins raised the Shechina through seven firmaments up to the seventh firmament, so seven tzaddikim — from Avraham to Moshe — brought it back down, step by step. We saw that Moshe, the seventh, is the one who completed the journey and brought it down to the physical earth itself, at the giving of the Torah. And we learned the precision: the ikar of the drawing-down is specifically the bringing-down to the earth, and specifically through Moshe — a perfect symmetry to the ikar of the withdrawal, which was specifically from the earth.
But we were left with three words hanging in the air, within the parentheses: “and all sevenths are beloved.” All sevenths are beloved. This is the reason the maamar gave for why davka Moshe succeeded — because he is the seventh. But what does that mean? Why is the virtue of the seventh not dependent on talent or effort, but simply on his being seventh? And how does all this touch — and this is truly surprising — davka us?
With this we'll open ois gimel in the next lesson. Thank you for learning with us — and we'll see you in the next lesson.