VaEra - What Are We?

"God spoke to Moses and said to him, 'I am YHVH. I revealed Myself to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob as God Almighty (El Shaddai) and did not allow them to know Me by My name YHVH."

The forefathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, originate spiritually from Supernal Mother, Ima Ilaa, which is the name of God with the gematria of 63 (יוד הי ואו הי). The three letters yud (ייי) found in this name are the three forefathers.

The first letters of their names, together with another name of Jacob - Israel are alef, yud, yud, yud, with the gematria of 31 (אל). That is the name “El,” and it explains the meaning of “I revealed myself as El.” Abraham, who is the first, is thus called “Chesed El” - the Kindness of God.

It is also known that the Supernal Mother is crying on her chair, and there her name is “El Shaddai” - “God Who has it in His power to fullfill His promise,” but this appearance to Abraham was only by way of substitution, in a vision, “bamachaze” - which is in Aramaic, and not Hebrew, that is, a substitution.

The last letters of the names of the forefathers, M, K, B, are SH, D, Y (Shaddai) but also by way of substitution, in the alphabet called "At-Bash," where the first letter of the alphabet is substituted with the last one, and so on.

The gematria of the name Moses (Moshe - 345) himself is also El Shaddai - 345, but without substitutions, in a revealed manner. Moses encompassed all the powers of the forefathers. However, he also had an added name "Mah," with the gematria of 45 (יוד הא ואו הא), when he said, "And we, what (mah) are we?" He added over the forefathers, making him the greatest of the prophets.

Art: Domenico Fetti - Moses Before The Burning Bush

Shemot – Childbirth

As we mentioned before, there are seventy ways to interpret the Torah, one of them is that Exodus is parallel to the soul being sent to Earth for spiritual growth. Another way is to view Exodus as an allegory of actual childbirth. Thus, the Ten Plagues become a parallel to this also.

The first of the plagues was the water of the Nile turning into blood, and similarly the beginning of birth is signaled by the breaking of the waters, which may also contain some blood. Without this, the child might suffocate. In the spiritual world blood is often connected to the Evil Impure forces, the power of which needs to be broken for the process of redemption to begin.

Then came the plague of the frogs (צפרד"ע), which can be read as (צפר ד"ע), meaning the “bird” (צפר), or the “voice” of 70 (ד"ע). These correspond to the seventy screams of birth, and to the seventy words in the psalm “God will answer me in the time of distress”.

The plague of darkness corresponds to the baby's distress during birth, when it begins to perceive itself as going from light to darkness.

Finally, the plague of the killing of the firstborn corresponds to a great number of evil forces that surround the child the at time of birth, all being killed. Still, the major Evil Urge remains alive. This is the meaning of the phrase, “And the first baby that came out was red, all covered with hair,” - first comes the Evil Urge. That is also the meaning of Pharaoh remaining alive of all the firstborn of Egypt. God wants man to be fighting with his evil inclination for the first thirteen years of his life, until the Good Inclination joins him at thirteen and one day.

The time of Redemption (birth) is the spring month of Nisan, when the "Ma'adim" (Red, or Mars) star achieves prominence. The seven stars (planets) are abbreviated as שצ'ם חנכל, the letter mem (ם) stands for Ma'adim.

Art: Nicholas Gysis - New Arrival

Vayigash – When Two Kings Meet

"Judah walked up to Joseph and said, "Please, your highness, let me say something to you personally."

As we learned before, the meeting of the two brothers, Judah and Joseph, reflects some events in the spiritual worlds. Judah represents Kingship, ruling the world, and Joseph represents Righteousness or the Foundation of the world. Kingship is also related to the Female and Foundation – to the male components of the world, which creates imbalance and tension.

The Psalms described this: "Behold, the kings assembled (to attack Jerusalem), they passed by together." Now the Zohar gives it a different meaning: the two kings are Judah and Joseph coming together, and they "passed by" in the sense that they overlooked the mistakes people made (as in "God passes over and overlooks transgressions"), that is why they are "together" – in love and in unity.

Now we can better understand why the first word uttered by Judah was "please," "bee" (בי) in Hebrew. The gematria of this word is 12 (2 + 10), and Judah was hinting at all the possible permutations of the name of God representing mercy, Adonay (יהוה), like this:

1-יהוה
2-ההוי
3-היהו
4-והיה
5-יההו
6-ההיו
7-הוהי
8-וההי
9-יוהה
10-היוה
11-הויה
12-ויהה

Judah said, "Let me, who is your slave, or your servant (עבדך), talk to you." He was following the construction of the phrase "God, we are Your servants, the creation of Your hands." He was saying to Joseph, "I am your task (עבודתך) in the world" – from "your servant" to "your work" to "your task" – therefore, take me seriously and treat me kindly.

Art: Petrus van Schendel - A Servant Girl By Candle Light