Death of the Kings

December 4, 2009
Rabbi Seymour Rossel

     A single verse in this week's portion changed the way we think about the world around us, about our faith, and about our reason for being. The mystics read this line and saw something in it that spoke to their souls. Perhaps it is a bit complex to explain and a bit difficult to understand, but it is certainly worth trying to explain and understand.

     The particular verse sounds simple and logical. It says, "These are the kings who reigned in the land of Edom before any king reigned over the Israelites" (36:31). The Zohar, from 12th century Spain, explains this verse as the sign of the creation of evil. God originally divided the world into seven regions, with ten chieftains in each region -- seventy chieftains each in charge of one of the seventy nations. But the most despised of all these kingdoms was the nation of Esau, called Edom. Edom is the "side" of creation that is called "the side of defilement," and also Sitra Achra, "the other side." Like the ten holy lights called the sefirot, from which God created all worlds, the realm of lower kingdoms or "the other side" is also made up of kingdoms separate from one another yet all linked together in a kind of chain. Just as the sun shines in thousands of places at one and the same time, the lower kingdoms send forth power to thousands and myriads in the lower world -- to demons and devils of every kind and description. Therefore, God cursed the kingdom of Edom, saying, "Behold, I make you small among the nations; you are greatly despised" (Jer. 49:15).

     Regarding the verse from our portion, "These are the kings that reigned in the land of Edom before any king reigned over the Israelites," Rabbi Jesse (in the Zohar) explains that these "early kings" refer to things that are unclean, things that came into existence before Jacob became Israel. They were born first, born with Esau, since the time was not yet ripe for Heaven to ally itself with Jacob, for God to give Jacob his new name and his new identity as Israel, and for the Children of Israel to gain ascendance over evil. But that time finally arrived when the least of the tribes, Benjamin, was born. For Benjamin is the smallest and the last, completing the tribes, and from his birth the kingdom of Israel began to advance. The realm of good was established, the covenant of God with Jacob and Israel was made, "never to be removed" (Soncino Zohar, Bereshith, Section 1, Page 177a-b).

     This is one explanation the Zohar puts forth for the mystery of the existence of evil in our world. Evil came into being only because God's ally, Israel, was not yet in the world, because Esau the Edomite was born first, before his twin brother Jacob.

     Several centuries later, the mystic genius of Tsfat, Rabbi Isaac Luria, took the same verse and the idea of the Zohar several steps further. Luria explained that, when God decided to create the world, God's presence filled all space so there was nowhere the world could exist. To make room for the universe, God had to contract, the way you might breathe in to create a space where your stomach was. This act of God to empty a space inside God -- the very first act of creation--Luria called Tzimtzum. It took place just before God spoke the first command, "Let there be light." Then God's light went forth into the empty space to create. The light formed a kind of heavenly being, an image of God we call Adam Kadmon, a primeval spiritual human. The light existed in this heavenly being the way stars exist in a constellation. It separated into ten forms or sefirot, arranged in a kind of chain, beginning with the first, the head, and descending into the arms, the torso, and the legs. The light flowed from one to another of the sefirot through vessels that were also made of light, since the only thing that existed at that first moment was light itself.

     Now, the flow of God's light proceeded without any problem within the first three spheres, but then the light spread so rapidly into the next six spheres, that the containers made to hold the light burst. This, Rabbi Luria called Shevirat HaKeilim, "the breaking of the vessels." When the vessels broke, much light returned to its source, but some fell down into the universe.

     Some falling light eventually spilled into the last sphere, which is our world. That is why sparks of God's light are in all created things in our world. But the broken bits of the vessels, called kelipot or "shards," fell like pieces of shattered pottery with sparks of light still clinging to them. When we see these shards or kelipot, they appear "evil" to us -- or, at least, they appear to be lesser forms of "good." This is Isaac Luria's explanation for how evil came into the world. But where is this found in the Torah? Where is the proof? It is in our verse!

     Remember, it is written, "These are the kings who reigned in the land of Edom before any king reigned over the Israelites," meaning, these are the "kings" who rose and fell before Jacob was renamed Israel and God's covenant with the Children of Israel came into being. These were worlds that were formed and destroyed, Luria says, leaving behind the kelipot, the shattered bits hiding sparks of God's light.

     Now that Israel has come on the scene, God has made an eternal covenant with us. Our part in the covenant includes what Luria calls Tikkun or "restoration." As we live by God's commandments, we conquer evil in the world, releasing the sparks and allowing them to rise upward to rejoin God. When the last spark is restored, God will be One and complete again, and the world will be redeemed. Luria taught that every act of the covenant, even welcoming the Shabbat or lighting the Chanukah menorah, was an act of Tikkun. Today, we tend to think of his idea more in moral terms, as Tikkun Olam, "restoring the world," through acts of goodness, through protesting acts of evil, and through serving one another's needs. Either way, the death of the kings of Edom before the coming of the kingdom of Israel, reminds us that removing evil from our world is the preeminent way of adding light to our world. And it reminds us, too, that it is up to each of us to right any wrong we may encounter -- that's our mission because that's the meaning of our covenant. And let us say: Amen.