First in Thought, Last in Deed
In the piyyut (liturgical poem) Lecha Dodi by the Kabbalist Rabbi Shalom Alkabetz in the 16th century, which we customarily sing on Friday nights, one of the stanzas is a theologically loaded standout:
To greet Shabbat let’s go, let's be gone,
For she is the wellspring of blessing,
From the start, from ancient times she was chosen,
Last made, but first planned.
לִקְרַאת שַׁבָּת לְכוּ וְנֵלְכָה
כִּי הִיא מְקוֹר הַבְּרָכָה
מֵרֹאשׁ מִקֶּדֶם נְסוּכָה
סוֹף מַעֲשֶׂה בְּמַחֲשָׁבָה תְּחִלָּה
What does it mean to say Shabbat was “last made, but first planned?”
Let’s consider Alkabetz’s idea that Shabbat is a person, a queen. The personification of this day is not unique — it is the core of Kabbalat Shabbat as a concept, in which the Kabbalists would wait in the fields to welcome the Sabbath bride.
The idea that Shabbat was “last made, but first planned” supersedes an idea that humanity was last made by God in the order of Creation, but existed first in God’s planning of the world, long before it was made.
Humanity, in the conception of these Kabbalists, was not the last and therefore the first of Creation. Shabbat, being “made” on the seventh day, demonstrates itself as a higher order of Creation, because it is a Created thing, not just a day of rest, a void.
But the original idea that humanity, not Shabbat, is really the last Creation can be seen in a section of the Zohar that we paraphrase from as our High Holidays theme “from thought to action.”
And because of the aforementioned, we see in Job “Think now, what innocent man ever perished?” This refers to Pinchas, who was zealous for the covenant (by killing an Israelite fornicating with Midianite in front of the Tent of Meeting, preventing a massive plague from God), who is imprinted on by the children of the King and Queen. [Pinchas is written with a large י (yud) and a small י in two different verses, the larger, higher one coming from the YHVH name of God, and the smaller, lower one from Adonai, which come from the children of the heavenly king and queen respectively.] He was zealous in initial thought, and so merited the higher י. And he was zealous in deed, and merited the lower י. Wisdom was at the beginning (in thought) and at the end (in deed).
This was so also with Adam HaRishon, primordial Man, who was created through both Names of God and therefore their attributes of Thought and Action, which is why our Rabbis say he was created first in Thought and made last in Deed.
וּבְגִין דָּא, (איוב ד׳:ז׳) זְכוֹר נָא מִי הוּא נָקִי אָבָד, דָּא פִּנְחָס, דְּקַנֵּי עַל בְּרִית, וְאִתְרְשִׁים בֵּיהּ, דְּאִיהוּ בְּרָא דְּמַלְכָּא וּמַטְרוֹנִיתָא. קַנֵּי בְּמַחֲשָׁבָה, וְזָכֵי לְאָת י' מִן יְהוָֹ"ה. וְקַּנֵי בְּעוֹבָדוֹי, וְזָכָה לְאוֹת י' מִן אֲדֹנָי. וְהַאי אִיהוּ חָכְמָה בָּרֹאשׁ. וְחָכְמָה בַּסוֹף.
וּבְגִין דְּאָדָם קַדְמָאָה הֲוָה רָשׁוּם בְּתַרְוַויְיהוּ, אוֹקְמוּהָ עָלֵיהּ רַבָּנָן, דְּאִיהוּ רִאשׁוֹן לַמַּחֲשָׁבָה, אַחֲרוֹן לְמַעֲשֶׂה.
An example of the small yud in Pinchas' name
The idea of Thought transitioning to Action may be best explained by Rabbis Rosenfeld and Hollander over the course of the High Holidays, but I want to explain this Thought to Action sequence in a way I had in mind:
The arc of Thought to Action, being first in God’s Thought to become last in God’s Acts, cuts across a humongous swath of time.
To go from Thought to Action is a process that requires watching many other thoughts receive their material form before your particular thought does. Perhaps this process could be quick, as with Pinchas, who moved extremely quickly from thought to action. But as with the moral element of his story (killing someone without due process), Pinchas is an exception that proves the rule: The unity of the initial concept to its final implementation is one formed out of great deliberation, not in haste.
As we head towards the end of this arc in many aspects of our lives, be mindful of this deliberation, for the power and quality of the Action is determined by the wisdom of the initial Thought.
