Chiddushei HaRim

It is written in the Zohar HaKadosh on "And it came to pass when Noach was six hundred years old..." (Bereishis 7:6) — in the year 600, "and the gates of wisdom were opened." What is the connection here? The matter is this: this sixth millennium is fundamentally intended to rectify the attribute of Yesod, which is the sixth sefirah, called the holy covenant (bris kodesh), called "Tzaddik, foundation of the world" (Tzaddik Yesod Olam). Through this comes the redemption, as it is written, "and your people, all of them tzaddikim [righteous]..." (Yeshayahu 60:21), and through the opening of the wellsprings of wisdom (chochmah) the light comes to shine even within the darkness, as it is written, "in His word He brings on evenings, in wisdom He opens the gates" (from the evening prayer liturgy).

Therefore, although it is written in the Zohar HaKadosh that for this sin [the sin of the generation of the Flood] one is not accepted in teshuvah (repentance), God forbid — nevertheless, now that the gates of wisdom have been opened, one can do teshuvah even for this.

And I heard from him (?) the reason why there is no teshuvah for it: because this sin comes from the mind (moach), whereas teshuvah is only through "and his heart shall understand..." (Yeshayahu 6:10). But now that the gates of wisdom have been opened, this too can be rectified through them. And even though, while a person is in sin, he cannot enter into the gates themselves, nevertheless a spark from them shines even into the place of darkness, so that through this he may be able to return.

The Mabul (Flood) washed away from all creatures whatever tum'ah (impurity) was upon them, and this appears from what is said in Masechet Shabbat (108) that fish have abundant zuhama (filth/impurity) — and from where do we learn this? And according to the above it appears that fish were not washed by the waters of the Mabul, since their origin is in water, and therefore they were not cleansed of the zuhama. And through Adam's sin there was corruption in all the created beings, and zuhama came upon them.

The explanation regarding the generation of the Dispersion is that they sought to mix together tov (good) and ra (evil), and this is what is meant by "Zechor yemot olam" (Remember the days of old), etc., "Behafrido bnei adam, yatzev gevulot amim" (When He separated the children of man, He set the boundaries of the nations) "le'mispar bnei Yisrael" (according to the number of the children of Israel) — meaning that the Holy One, blessed be He, separated the tov from the ra, and Yisrael became His portion, and the seventy nations correspond to Yisrael. And corresponding to this He made seventy elders, and seventy souls in Yisrael, and seventy panim (facets/aspects) to the Torah.

Behold, "one people and one language" — the Zohar HaKadosh (Holy Zohar) derives from this a kal vachomer (a fortiori inference) for good: that when people gather together to seek counsel for the service of HaShem (the Name, i.e., God), how much more so that nothing will be withheld from them, etc. — see there. And the language of the verse implies that it refers to Yisrael, who are called "one people and one language" — the lashon hakodesh (holy tongue) which is unique to them. And HaShem promises that if they join together, and this is what they begin to do, this will be "the beginning of their doing" — that they should be in one union, "and nothing will be withheld from them," etc.

As it is written, "Every gathering that is for the sake of Heaven, its end will endure." And this is what is written, "Ask your father and he will tell you," etc., "when He separated," etc. — that we should know that all of this was for the sake of Yisrael, to learn this kal vachomer.