The ‫ גר"א‬in ‫ הקדמה לתיקוני זהר וספרי דצניעותא‬and a number of other places develops the

concepts that the letters ‫ שלמה‬contain the letters ‫ משה‬based on the idea that ‫ שלמה‬wanted
to be like ‫ משה‬and understand the ‫ יסוד‬of every ‫ מצוה‬like it says the ‫ביקש קהלת למצוא דברי‬
‫חפץ‬, but when he came to ‫ פרה האדומה‬and he didn’t understand it he said .‫והיא רחוקה ממני‬
‫ שלמה‬represents aspiring to be ‫משה‬.

On one hand ‫ שלמה‬represents ‫ – שלחימות‬seemingly even greater than ‫משה‬. That’s why in
‫ שיר השירים‬the word ‫ שלמה‬represents ‫ שלימות‬- ‫הקב"ה מי שהשלום שלו‬. On the other hand the
human being ‫ שלמה‬represents the yearn for the ‫ שלימות‬of ‫ משה רבינו‬because he’s the
epitomy of ‫שלם‬.

More than that the ‫ גר"א‬says in his name is the word ‫משל‬. He says the letters ‫ה‬-‫מ‬-‫ל‬-‫ ש‬also
represent ‫ חומר‬.‫ חומר פועל צורה תכלית‬is matter that doesn’t take on any form whatseoever,
which of course doesn’t allow us to grasp it. We can not understand ‫ חומר‬without ‫צורה‬
and we can not understand ‫ צורה‬without ‫חומר‬. We can not understand matter without
taking any kind of form (cold, damp, wet, hot), but we can also not understand a form
without there being matter which subscribes to that form (something has to be warm or
cold).

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