Sunday, November 29, 2009

Vayetze


Yakov's going away from Beer Sheva is symbolic of later going out of Egypt and receiving the Torah. His encounter with the large stone at the mouth of the well symbolizes people's difficulties in understanding the Truth. His removal of the stone represents his coming back at the time of the Footsteps (Ikvey) of the Mashiach and resolving all the difficulties. The Stone Tablets in this connection, having the size of 6x6 hand-breadths, with a total size of 36+36=72, represent the secret of “I come to you in the thickness (עב=72) of the smoke.” The wise will understand further.

A matron asked Rabbi Yossi ben Halafta, “For how many days did God make the world?” He replied, “For six.” She said, “And what is He doing after that?” He replied, “He sits and brings people together.” She said, “I can do that!” She married 300 pairs of slaves, but in the morning, there were multiple discords in the new families. What is the meaning of this?

The matron asked, “If God could create the world in six days, surely he can keep maintaining it now and have time to spare. Moreover, how many days (thousands of years) are in the plan?” He answered, “Six thousand years. Each Day is a separate entity, taking care of itself, and Metatron, the Ruler of the World angel, represents them all with the six letters of his name. They can last 6,000 years. So you are right; God has nothing to do. However, bringing people together is extremely hard.”

When the soul is reborn for the first time, the man's and the woman's souls separate from the same place and quickly come back together. But the following time, it all depends on their deeds, and their soulmate may not even be born at either one's reincarnation. Keeping the families together then requires God's intervention at all times. This is the meaning of the verse, “...God keeps individuals home...”

Thursday, November 19, 2009

Toldot - What is luck?

The Sages said, “Children, life, and sustenance don't depend upon one's merits, but upon one's luck – Mazal.” Mazal, however, is not chance or luck but rather a spiritual force. In fact, there are two kinds of Mazal: Mazal-8, called Isaac, and Mazal-13, called Rebecca. When the two unite, they represent the complete Mazal. There is a strict aspect of Mazal, and the union of Isaac and Rebecca was fruitless. Isaac overturned this strict Mazal with his prayer, and Rebecca became pregnant.

Rebecca came as a reincarnation of Eve. Her children fought in her womb, and Esau, a reincarnation of Cain, wanted to break his brother's skull. Rebecca, therefore, asked, “Why am I?”


Rebecca's sons were fighting, just like Eve's sons were fighting. Esau wanted to kill his brother, only this time, he started doing this earlier than in his previous life as Cain. This did not seem an improvement of Eve's problem.

She was told by the prophet that her two children will “separate” - that is, they will always fight, one of them drawing all the holiness to himself, and that in the end “...the big one will serve the small one...” This represented precisely the rectification of what Adam had done by mixing good and evil.


Friday, November 13, 2009

Chayei Sarah


Sarah represents Understanding, and the Judgments that are found in her represent Intelligence. What does this cryptic statement mean?

The name of Sarah שרה is completely composed of the transformations of the name of God Elohim אלהימ:

ש=300

אלפ=1+30+80=111
74=4+40+30=למד
15=10+5=הי
20=4+6+10=יוד
80=40+40=ממ

300=111+74+15+20+80
300=300

200=ר
1=א
31=30+1=אל
36=5+30+1=אלה
46=10+5+30+1=אלהי
86=40+10+5+30+1=אלהימ

200=1+31+36+46+86
200=200

ה=5=five letters of אלהימ

Earthly Sarah thus represents the Supernal Mother (Ima), while Abraham – the Supernal Father (Aba). The Supernal Mother, which represents Understanding, is divided into two kinds of Understanding, Upper and Lower. The Upper Understanding connects with Upper Wisdom of the Supernal Father, and this is their Kiss, which connects their Spirits together. This Kiss was enough to sustain the world, until Evil was mixed up with Good. The mix is reflected in the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, whereas the antidote is the Tree of Life – the study of Truth.

The Supernal Union of the Father and Mother continues with the connection between Lower Understanding and Lower Wisdom, which leads to the birth of the Supernal Man, Zeir Anpin.
 

The practical way to enhance this relationship is to imagine the letter combinations representing the facts described above.

Wednesday, November 4, 2009

Vayera


The first letters of Vayera form the word Job (Iyov): “Vayera elav Adonai Be'elonei” (and God appeared to Abraham in the Valley). The next words, “Adonai Be'elonei Mamre” (God in the Valley of Mamre) give “Yabam” - Levirate marriage. What is this a hint to?

Terach, the father of Abraham, was later reincarnated as Job. Terach's father married a “Yebama,” a woman destined by levirate marriage to someone else, and Terach was born from a passion that had a prohibition involved. This is reflected in his name, Terach, for “Reticha” means “boiling.”

Because of this, Abraham's first son had to be Ishmael, who was also blemished in his behavior, and only after that Abraham had Isaac as a son.


Abraham sits at the door of the Gehinnom (Purgatory) and saves those that deserve to be saved. This is hinted at by the phrase "...he sat at the door in the heat of the day...".


On his going out of Gehinnom, Abraham took with him his father Terach, so that Terach would be reincarnated as Job. This is why the last words of Job are: “Therefore, I renounce my words and relent, for I am but dust and ashes,” meaning “I relent because of that one who called himself dust and ashes – Abraham.”

Later on Abraham was told that his father already started his reincarnation, “...and Abraham was told that...Milcah has given birth to ...Uz...”, and Uz is another name of Job, who was from the land of Uz.