Understanding Your Middos - 93 Fire – Control

Serarah/Control – A Branch of Honor/Fire

We are continuing to discuss, with siyata d’shmaya, the element of fire. We have so far discussed the root traits of fire, which are conceit and anger, and one of their branching traits, honor. Rav Chaim Vital lists the trait of control (serarah) along with the trait of honor. The trait of “serarah” is found in the verse, “sorer al beiso”, “To rule over his house”[1], thus serarah is the trait of ruling over others. Let us now analyze the trait of serarah/control.

The first time the term serarah is mentioned in the Torah is by the sarei Pharoah[2], the officials of Pharoah, who they abducted Sarah (who was called Sarai at that time), when Avraham and Sarah traveled to Egypt. Later the Torah mentions the term serarah by the sar hamashkim (the butler of Pharoah) and the sar ha’ofim (the baker of Pharoah).

When Sarah was abducted, the deeper meaning behind this is that her trait of serarah (control) was abducted by Pharoah, by the impure forces of Egypt. It meant that Sarah, who represents the holy trait of serarah/control, was abducted by the forces of evil.

The trait of serarah exists both in the side of holiness as well as the side of ruination. The holy trait of serarah is a trait that personifies the nation of Yisrael, who have a royal status to Hashem, whereas the evil serarah is found by the nations of the world, represented by the sarei Pharoah. When Sarah was abducted, it meant that the nations wanted to take away the trait of serarah from the roots of the Jewish people.

What is holy serarah, and what is evil serarah? We will explain the difference, but first we needed to explain the roots of this matter: Evil serarah is represented by sarei Pharoah, and holy serarah is represented by Sarah.

Serarah (Control) Is When There Is Someone To Rule Over

Let us now go further into this discussion.

When one rules over a community or whenever one is in charge of others, there must be at least two people, with one of them who will rule over the other. A hint to this is that the word serarah is from the word sharsheres, which means “chain”, which always has more than one ring in it. In order for a person to be in charge, there has to be someone else whom he can be in charge of.

Now we shall go deeper into the root of the trait of serarah/control. We mentioned that the first time where the term serarah is used is by the sarei Pharoah, when they abducted Sarah. But there is an earlier root of serarah than this which is found in the Torah. On the second day of Creation, when Hashem divided the waters, the Torah says, “And G-d made the heavens, and He made a separation between the waters beneath the heavens, with the waters which were above the heavens.”[3]The Hebrew word which the Torah uses for “which were” is the word asher. The word asher contains the same root letters as the word serarah. This hints that serarah (control) is rooted in the division of the waters which Hashem made on the second day.

Since this is so, the trait of serarah can only thrive when there are two levels, a higher level and a lower level. Serarah gets its power from the existence of a lower level.

Serarah/Control – Rising From Below To Above

The Hebrew word for “head”, rosh, contains the words aish (fire) and sar (ruler). Meaning, one can only be at the “head” when he uses the element of fire, to rule over a lower level. The trait of serarah is when one is being a rosh, a head. But where does the trait of serarah originate from? It starts from the existence of the lower level. This is true both when it comes to holy serarah and evil serarah. Whether one is using the trait of serarah/control in a holy way or in an evil way, one can be in control of others only when there is a lower level to be in control over.  

Every concept has an opposing force. The trait of serarah is opposed by the concept of the asheirah, a form of idolatry, a word which contains the same letters as the word serarah. In the particular idolatry of asheirah, a person serves a tree. This is an evil kind of serarah, for it represents the evil forces which are given some level of control over Creation. A tree comes from below (the earth) and grows towards above (the sky). Water, by contrast, comes from above (the sky) to below (the earth). Fire begins below (on the earth) and rises higher (towards the sky, towards Heaven). The word asheirah is from the words aish (fire) and serarah (control), because the asheirah tree is like a fire which starts below and rises above (for the purposes of idolatry). Thus, the “fire” of serarah/control begins from below, and rises above.

After Hashem the split of the waters, placing the lower waters below on the earth and the upper waters above in Heaven, what is the difference between the lower and higher waters? Chazal explain that the lower waters wish to rise higher to be on the same level as the upper waters.[4] Since the lower waters wish to rise, the lower waters resemble the element of fire, an element which begins below and seeks to rise to above. The lower waters are essentially a “fire” within the element of water – they are a form of fire-of-water – they are waters, but they have a yearning to rise, which resembles the nature of fire, which rises.

When Hashem told the waters to gather together and form dry land, the waters produced grass and trees, which grow from below (earth) towards above (the sky). Thus, the water reveals growth from below to above. A tree is connected to the earth, but it rises towards above. This is the idea of serarah, in which a person is below and rises from below to above. Furthermore, the Torah says that there was an “aid” which irrigated the land. This is how water returns to above. The “aid” is also a hint to man, who is able to rise above. How does man rise above? Through man’s power of serarah, control. Man was commanded to fill the world with children, and since a person is able to grow and produce on this world by producing children, so does man have the power to grow from below to above.

Higher Serarah/Control and Lower Serarah/Control

Man’s power of serarah, control, is revealed at the highest point of the body, which is the head. A person who rules over others is at the head, therefore serarah/control is represented by the head. In particular, the trait of serarah is an expression of the neshamah which is in the head. When serarah is holy, it begins from above, from the “head”, and it does not begin from below. In contrast, the impaired trait of serarah is when it begins from below, where one is wishing to rise from below to above.  

Serarah that begins from above, from the head, is holy serarah. This is when a person is control and he is a ruler because he has started out, to begin with, by being above. He can thereby be in control. But when a person begins to control and rule over others by first being below others and seeking to rise above them, this is the evil kind of serarah.

Since the good and holy kind of serarah begins “above” and it is represented by the head, the impaired and evil kind of serarah which begins “below” is a serarah that begins in the body, which is below the head. When Sarah was abducted the Pharoah, on a deeper level this meant that the trait of serarah was abducted from Sarah by the other nations of the world, by impure forces. The repair for this is to return the trait of serarah to above, to the place where serarah belongs, which is the head.

Thus, there are two kinds of serarah. Holy, perfected serarah begins from above, from the head. It is when one rules over others because he is above others, from the start. In contrast, the impaired, evil kind of serarah starts from “below”: when one is below and he wishes to rise above others and be able to rule over others.

The trait of serarah became impaired when Sarah “went down” to Egypt and was abducted by the sarei Pharoah. When Sarah “went down” to Egypt, this meant on a deeper level that the holy trait of serarah of the Jewish people had now “went down” from its exalted state.

Thus, we have so far learned about two kinds of serarah. There is a holy kind of serarah when it begins in the head, in the neshamah which is in the head. The lower serarah comes from below to above, and it was this serarah which was taken from Sarah by the officials of Pharoah, where it was placed into a state of exile, and it will be redeemed at the time of the complete Redemption. The higher serarah, which is revealed in one’s head, was not abducted in Egypt. It was only the second kind of serarah mentioned, the lower level of serarah, which was abducted.

The Redemption of Our Serarah (Royal Status)

When Yosef went down to Egypt, he received serarah there, by becoming viceroy. He rose from slavery to being the overseer of Egypt. This was a serarah of rising from below, to a position of leadership. In addition, Yosef’s descent to Egypt was caused by his dreams, where he dreamed of having serarah (control) over the other brothers. From his dreams and his sale to Egypt, he was eventually jailed where he met the sar hamashkim (butler) and sar ha’ofim (baker) of Pharoah, and through the report of the sar hamashkim, Yosef rose to a position of serarah. Thus, Yosef descended to Egypt because of serarah, and he was elevated in Egypt to serarah.

When Yosef became viceroy, this was the beginning of the light of the redemption from Egypt, but it was not yet complete. Our trait of serarah was still “abducted” in Egypt, ever since Sarah was abducted by Pharoah, and it would not be fully redeemed until much later.

The Connection Between Serarah/Control and Shirah/Song 

At the sea, which was the culmination of the redemption from Egypt, there was the shirah, the song at the sea. There could now be shirah because the original descent to Egypt was due to serarah, which began with Sarah’s descent to Egypt, and now the fallen trait of serarah had been redeemed, so it was now turned into shirah. It was essentially the return of the serarah which had been taken from Sarah and abducted by Pharoah and placed into exile, and now it became shirah. Until now, the trait of serarah of Sarah been exiled by Egypt, and now “Sarah” had been fully returned – now there could be shirah.

At the sea, there were two songs, the song of Moshe and the song of Miriam. As explained earlier, serarah needs at least two people in order to thrive, and so does shirah also require at least two people.

Since there are two kinds of serarah (rising from below to above, and being in charge to begin with), therefore there are also two kinds of shirah (song) which correspond to these two levels of serarah. The lower level of serarah begins from descent (below) and rises to above, whereas the higher level of serarah begins from the head. This higher level of serarah is personified by the name “Yisrael”, which is from the words, “Li rosh”, “A head unto Me.”[5] Each of these led to a corresponding level of shirah.

Yaakov Avinu fought with the angel of Esav, and he had to stop because it had come time for the angel to sing shirah. Yaakov demanded that the angel give him a blessing, and the angel of Esav blessed Yaakov that he will rule over people. This was referring to the trait of serarah which begins from the head, because after this battle, Yaakov was given the name Yisrael, from the words “Li Rosh”, “A head unto me”, a hint to the serarah in which a person rules because he is at the head to begin with.

The Sages state that when Yaakov fought with the angel, the dust at Yaakov’s feet rose to Heaven.[6] This was a hint that Yaakov (and the Jewish people) would also receive the serarah of rising from below to above.

The angel of Esav was called the sar (chief)of Esav. Thus, it was a war between Yaakov and Esav concerning the trait of serarah. It was essentially a war on two fronts. It was a war of who would be at the head, a war for the “firstborn status” which was the subject of the ongoing clash between Yaakov and Esav. And it was also a war of who would rise above the other.

Simply speaking, the name Yisrael implies serarah, of rising from below to above. But he was also given the name Yisrael on a deeper level: because “Yisrael arose as the first thoughts of Hashem”.[7] This is the serarah which begins in the head, the serarah of being in charge to begin with, for Yisrael is from the words Li rosh, “A head unto me.” The two levels of serarah (rising from below to above, and being in charge to begin with) are both contained in Yisrael. Therefore, the nation of Yisrael can rule on two levels: both by rising above the nations (the lower use of serarah), as well as on a deeper level, by ruling because one is at the head to begin with - for the souls of Yisrael were the “first thoughts” of Hashem.

Since serarah/control corresponds to the concept of shirah/song, there is a level of shirah which corresponds to the lower serarah, and a higher level of shirah which corresponds to the higher serarah, which is called “Li rosh”. When the Jewish people left Egypt, they were elevated as G-d’s people and they had now risen above the nations, receiving a royal status. Their fallen serarah had now been returned from below (from depraved Egypt) to above. When they came to the sea, there was the song of Moshe and Miriam, which the Torah calls “Az Yashir Moshe”, but the Torah did not say of this song As Yashir Yisrael, for it was not yet the complete level of shirah that is represented by Yisrael. It was not yet on the level of the shirah at the future Redemption.

The shirah sung by the sea, after leaving Egypt, was a shirah about the serarah of rising from below to above, of becoming elevated from Egypt, of rising above the nations. As explained earlier, this is only the lower level of serarah, because it begins from a lower level. In contrast to this, the shirah of the future will be called Az Yashir Yisrael, in which the serarah of the Jewish people will begin from the head, where their intrinsic royal status will be revealed, as implied by the words “Li rosh”, “A head unto Me”, where one is a ruler to begin with, a ruler by essence, and not simply because he has risen above the nations of the world. That will be the holy, complete level of serarah which will be revealed within the Jewish people.

The Highest Level of Serarah/Control – Reaching The Center

It has so far been explained that serarah is linked with the concept of shirah/song. When one sings, the singing emanates from the stomach, the middle section of the body. Therefore, the middle section of the body is another place where serarah comes from.

Chazal state that “From Zion (Eretz Yisrael), the world is irrigated”[8], meaning that middle point of the world, Eretz Yisrael (and specifically, the Beis HaMikdash) is where all blessing extends from. It has already been explained that the terms serarah and shirah share the same root. The word shirah contains the root letters of the word yoshor, “straight”, which alludes to the straight kav, the “straight line”, by which all Heavenly sustenance extends to the world. And, as it was mentioned, shirah/song originates from the middle section of the body, the stomach, which at the center of the body. The “center” corresponds to the igul, the “circle”, by which all Heavenly sustenance comes down and is then returned to Above, in a circular fashion.

Thus, there is a third kind of serarah, which originates from the middle point (in addition to the higher level of serarah, which begins in the head, and the lower level of serarah, which begins in the lowest section of the body. Hence, there is an intermediate level of serarah, which originates from the center of the body). The “straight line”, the kav, extends from Heaven to earth (from above to below), corresponding to the higher level of serarah. The lower level of serarah, rising from below to above, corresponds to the igul, the “circle”, for it returns everything below to above, just as a circle connects the furthest point to the original point.

The element of water, which comes from above and descends to below, corresponds to the straight kav which extends from Heaven to earth. The element of fire, which begins below on this earth and rises above towards Heaven, corresponds to the round igul, the circle, which returns something from below to its point of origin, which is above in Heaven.

Altogether, there are three levels of serarah/control: When serarah begins in the head (the highest point), when serarah begins below in the body (at the lowest point), and when serarah emanates from the center (the middle point), corresponding to the stomach.

The third kind of serarah mentioned, which begins from the center, is essentially when everything is facing the center. An example of this was the Beis HaMikdash, which was the manifestation of all three kinds of serarah. The Beis HaMikdash was a place where one could rise from below to above. This was the lower level of serarah. It was also the center of the world, from which all blessing came from. Eretz Yisrael in general, and the Beis HaMikdash in particular, is the place in the world where there was the revelation of the serarah, the royal status, of the Jewish people. It is the land of “Yisrael”, from the words Li rosh, “A head unto me”, which hints to the highest level of serarah, which begins in the head.

As mentioned earlier, the concept of serarah began with the split of the waters on the second day of Creation. Between the upper and lower waters is the seas, and that is where the song of Az Yashir Moshe was revealed. The seas are therefore the middle point between the lower waters and upper waters. The root of the division between the waters began with the middle point that separated between them. Thus, the shirah (which was sung at the sea, the middle point between the lower and upper waters) and the concept of serarah (which began with the division of the waters, where two levels were created) comes from the middle point.

Based upon all of the above, there are basically two sources of serarah in the soul. There is a serarah of the head, which is when one aims to be at the head of everything. And there is also a serarah which begins from the middle point, which is called shirah/song, because shirah begins from the middle of the body. This is when a person reveals shirah/song in everything. These are two facets of understanding to the concept of serarah.

Understanding The Three Kinds of Serarah/Control

Now let us try to understand the three kinds of serarah that were mentioned. Until now, we have been explaining the roots of this matter.

The highest level of serarah/control, which is the holy trait of serarah, is about being “at the head”.

The lower level of serarah is when a person rises to a position of authority by going from below to above, and this kind of serarah/control can only thrive when there is someone else to control, because in order to rule over another, there needs to be someone “below” the person ruling. This is the evil trait of serarah/control which Rav Chaim Vital describes. This trait is a branch of the trait of kavod/ honor, which comes from the element of fire.

A third kind of serarah is when a person’s authority begins from the middle point, and this is known as shirah/song.

The first kind of serarah mentioned, which is described as “Who will be at the head?”, is, in essence, a holy trait that belongs to the nation of Yisrael. The word Yisrael has the root letters of the word serarah, because serarah belongs to the nation of Yisrael. Hashem’s first thoughts were to create the nation of Yisrael, and there was no one at that time for Yisrael to rule over. Therefore, the holy trait of serarah which belongs to the nation of Yisrael is not dependent on having someone below them to rule over.  Certainly, as with any other trait, even this trait can be used for evil. But in essence, it is a holy kind of serarah/control, because it is not about ruling over another.

The trait of kavod/honor is only possible after one receives honor from others, whereas the trait of serarah/control is relevant before a person receives honor, because serarah is when one is seeking to be in control over others. If one is trying to rule over others because he is seeking to rise above others, such serarah is evil. But when a person has no one else to control and he seeks to be elevated, this is the holy trait of serarah, from the words sar aleph, “one chief”, and it is holy trait of serarah found in the Jewish people, who are called Yisrael, from the words “Li rosh”, “A head unto Me.”

It was also mentioned that there is a third kind of serarah/control, from the word shirah (song), which is when one reaches the middle point of something. Shirah comes from the center. The Gemara says, “There is no song except through the mouth.”[9] The source of shirah (song) is in the middle of the body, in the stomach, but it is revealed through the mouth. The mouth combines the serarah of the head (above) with the serarah of the middle section of the body (below), because the mouth is part of the head, and the mouth reveals song, which begins in the middle of the body.

When one combines together these two kinds of serarah – the serarah which originates in the head and the serarah which originates in the middle section of the body – there can then be shirah, song. Such shirah brings a person to the unified state of Creation.

The nation of Yisrael is called Li rosh, “A head unto Me”, not simply because the souls of Yisrael were the first thoughts of Hashem. It is because the “voice of Yaakov” [which counters the hands of Esav] is completed by the shirah which comes from the heart. The completion of “Yisrael” - the holy trait of serarah – is reached through the power of shirah, represented by the song of the Leviim, represented by Moshe.

Chazal state that in the years when the sons of Yaakov were living in Egypt, first the serarah (leadership) was given to Reuven, and after his death the serarah was transferred to Shimon, and after Shimon’s death, the serarah was given to Levi. After Levi’s death, the serarah was transferred to Yehudah. When the serarah was transferred to Yehudah, Hashem said that the serarah will last with him throughout the entire exile.[10] Clearly, these were two different kinds of serarah. The serarah given to Reuven, Shimon and Levi would not last, but the serarah given to Yehudah would last forever. What was different about Yehudah? Why did Yehudah merit to eternal serarah?

Yehudah’s name is due to the hodaah (thanks) which is mother Leah expressed upon his birth. Thus, Yehudah represents the power of speech, in particular, the power of shirah/song. Earlier it was explained that shirah/song is a combination of the serarah of the head with the serarah of the middle section of the body. The complete level of serarah was found by Yehudah, for Yehudah not only rules in the redemption, but also in the exile. The blessing given to Yehudah is that the royalty will never leave him, because Yehudah will be king not only in the future (with the reign of Mashiach, who comes from Yehudah), but throughout all the years of exile as well.

The nation of Yisrael contains together the two holy kinds of serarah, the serarah of the head and the serarah of the middle of the body. But in addition to this, the nation of Yisrael also personifies a third kind of serarah, the serarah of being able to “rule” even in exile, which leads towards Redemption. It is the serarah of rising from below to above, and this is the serarah personified by Klal Yisrael, in particular by Yehudah, through the Mashiach ben Dovid, who will combine together all three kinds of serarah.

When all of these three kinds of serarah together become revealed, the power of serarah is redeemed from its exile. At the future Redemption, all of these three kinds of serarah together will be revealed.

In Conclusion

The depth of complete serarah, in terms of our soul, is when one can rule over himself in any situation, whether he is at the head, the middle, or at the bottom - whether he is at the beginning of time, or at the middle of time [the period of exile], or at the end of time [the period of the future].

If a person can only rule over his soul when he is at the beginning alone, or at the middle alone, or at the end alone, he is missing the complete circuit. Only when one can rule over all three points (the beginning, middle and end) is it complete serarah. That will be the complete serarah, which will be revealed speedily in our days.