The Hasidic Parable

The Barriers to the Palace

The Barriers to the Palace king constructed a network of barriers on the way leading to his palace so that none might enter there; he hid in the palace while placing walls and fire and rivers-all of them illusions-on the way leading to the palace entrance. The wise person, pondering what he sees, asks himself how it is possible that his merciful father would wish to hide from his beloved children. All this must indeed be a mere illusion, and the father is testing his son to ascertain whether he will make the effort to corne to him. Immediately as the son plunges himself into the river surrounding the palace, the illusion vanishes and he proceeds onward through all the other barriers until he arrives at the king's palace. However, a fool, fearful of high walls and fire, would instead turn around and return horne. (Degel mabane E/rayimY Rabbi Moshe Hayyim Efrayim of Sedilikov related this parable in connection with the verse, "I will keep my countenance hidden on that day ..." (Deut. 31:18). The parable is found in a homily, included in Degel ma~ane Efrayim, in which Efrayim of Sedilikov wrestled with the logic and fairness of God's concealing His Presence from man. In Efrayim's own resolution of that question of the justice of God's hidden79 The Barriers to the Palace lzing constructed a networlz of barriers on the way leading to his palace so that none might enter there; he hid in the palace while placing walls and fire and rivers-all of them illusions-on the way leading to the palace entrance. The wise person, pondering what he sees, aslzs himself how it is possible that his merciful father would wish to hide from his beloved children. All this must indeed be a mere illusion, and the father is testing his son to ascertain whether he will maIze the effort to come to him. Immediately as the son plunges himself into the river surrounding the palace, the illusion vanishes and he proceeds onward through all the other barriers until he arrives at the IZing's palace. However, a fool, fearful of high walls and fire, would instead turn around and return home. (Degel mabane E/rayimp Rabbi Moshe Hayyim Efrayim of Sedilikov related this parable in connection with the verse, "I will keep my countenance hidden on that day ..." (Deut. 31:18). The parable is found in a homily, included in Degel ma~ane EJrayim, in which Efrayim of Sedilikov wrestled with the logic and fairness of God's concealing His Presence from man. In Efrayim's own resolution of that question of the justice of God's hidden79 80 THE ttAflDIC PA~ABLE ness, he suggested that through the consequent need to seek, the wise person ends up on a level higher than his prior spiritual level, and in this way the concealment of God's Presence is, paradoxically, for the benefit of the person's own spiritual development. The fool, who fails to pierce the illusion of divine concealment, fails to grow in stature, but a person of understanding grows as he moves from his initial sense of God's concealment to a sense of the Divine Presence within all existence, and he grasps that the cosmos itself is, in reality, a garment of the Divine. The same parable, with slight variations, is found in a number of other early hasidic texts. Perhaps the clearest statement of the nimshal is that found following a version of the same parable as related by Rabbi Ya'akov Yosef of Polonnoye: The great King, the King of Kings, conceals Himself within numerous barriers and walls of iron; ... the barriers are "extraneous thoughts" along with all that causes neglect of Torah study and prayer.... People of understanding realize that all the barriers and iron walls and all the garments and coverings are of His own self and being, as there is nothing devoid of His presence. (Beit porat Yose/) 2 The parable concerns all that people might experience as barriers to God, including those barriers that Jews encounter within themselves. These include an inability to pray because of extraneous thoughts (ma~shavot zarot) that disturb one precisely when seeking to become attached to God in prayer. These barriers are indeed experienced as real and as frustrating. By means of the parable, however, the reader considers the possibility that God's Presence is everywhere, even behind all the barriers concealing the Divine...