There is the seventh day called Shabbat, but there is also the seventh year that is called “Shabbat for God” and “Shabbat for the Land.” Why is the seventh year called Shabbat, indicating some similarity between the two, and what is the difference between them?
Shabbat is the time when all the spiritual worlds transform and go upwards, compared to their weekday position. For example, the Sefirot of Victory, Glory, Foundation, and Kingship of the lowest world, the World of Action, ascend to the place of Mercy, Strength, and Beauty. In their turn, Mercy, Strength, and Beauty go up to to the place of Wisdom, Understanding, and Knowledge. These upper three Sefirot, Wisdom, Understanding, and Knowledge, leave their World of Action and are transported into the next world, World of Formation, and so on. Even the highest world, the Long Face of the World of Nearness, goes yet higher, and the Supernal Father and Mother take its place, as is known.
The seventh year is called Shabbat, because it shares this quality with Shabbat that on this year the spiritual worlds also ascend to higher levels. However, the seventh year is different in that only the first three worlds, Worlds of Creation, Formation, and Action, go up. The upper world, the World of Nearness, stays in its place, and we too have no power to uplift it, and only on Shabbat does this world also experience an uplifting.
Art: Felix Edouard Vallotton - The Artist's Parents
Thank you Mark.
ReplyDeleteNow I understand why the land cannot be worked. The holiness in the land is in the process of ascending. Being in the midst of movement, the levels are not yet settled. By working the land, the ascension is disturbed. This explains why the land absolutely needed to get its rest during the 70 years of Babylonian exile. It had to balance out having lost a key process in its own spiritual development.
Sounds great. Very nice to see someone derive new conclusions.
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