Shemot – Aries and Scorpius

The twelve constellations are divided into four groups, or Foundations, and the constellation of Aries is from the Foundation of Fire, whereas Scorpius is from the Foundation of Water. In fact, a scorpion kills a man only because of the cold that it feels internally. The constellation themselves represent spiritual influences in the world, called “Mazal,” or luck.

Each of the seven planets, except for sun and moon, has two constellations assigned to it. The two “mazal” constellations assigned to Mars are Aries and Scorpius. This is why the Jews in Egypt and later on Passover were slaughtering a sheep on the fourteenth of the month of Nissan – because then the Aries is at its strongest.

According to these two constellations, there are two kinds of unpleasant feelings (gehinnom) that a person experiences after death. The first one is of fire, born of desire to do a wrong thing, corresponding to Aries; the other is of ice, born of coldly missing on the opportunity to do a good deed, and this corresponds to Scorpius. However, some people transgress even at this time, and they steal ice while they are in the gehinnom of ice, to cool themselves later, and it is about them that Job said “Drought and heat consume (literally, steal) snow water.”

Art: Maria Falconetto Giovanni - Sign of Scorpio

Jacob the Magician (Vayishlach)

"Jacob... slept there that night... prepared two hundred goats for his brother Esau... and was left alone to fight with Esau's angel."

The name of Esau's angel is Samael, with a gematria of 131. By giving his present to Esau, Jacob was effecting his ultimate removal from the world by connecting it to the magic number of 130, as we will see below. In addition, Jacob called what he sent a present "shai," with the gematria of 310. Combined with Amalek (240), the utmost hater of Israel, you get 550, which is how many animals Jacob sent. Jacob followed the Proverbs in giving a present to the enemy: "If your enemy is hungry, feed him, since with this you are pouring hot coals on his head, and God will repay you."

How was all this accomplished? Their argument was about the letter "yud." Jacob's real name was "Ekev" - heel. Still, Jacob took another letter, "yud," to signify that he was the one to correct Adam's error and became 'Yakov." When Jacob crosses the river "Yabok," he is left there alone. This letter was left out since this river has all the letters of Jacob's name except Ayin. Later, this letter will find its place in the blessing, "Israel will live alone just like (ayin) Jacob, securely." The gematria of this word "ayin" is 130, and this is what counteracts Esau's angel above (1 is added for the phrase, as is common in Kabbalah).

The 130 is also connected to the "Voice – the voice of Jacob and the hands – the hands of Esau," since "voice" – "Kol" is exactly 130 (k-l), since in the Torah it is spelled without the extra letter vav in between. It usually is written with the "vav" to indicate that the voice of Jacob, when it is present, conquers the hands of Esau. That means "the angel saw that he could not win over him (Jacob). "This word, "him," is spelled "lamed-vav," and it is this "vav" that the angel of Esau could not overcome. When the angel saw that he could not damage Jacob's body, represented by the letter vav, he touched his thigh, "kaf," the place where Evil forces had held. Jacob foresaw that too since he returned to collect small vessels with oil, "pach" – the same letters as "kaf," only reversed. Finally, the angel was forced to concede victory and told Jacob that he would not be called "Yakov," with yud contested, but "Yisrael," where the letter yud is connected to "Rosh" - head – and now stands uncontested. Jacob was thus acknowledged as the one who corrected Adam's mistake and everything else together with it.

Art: Michel I Corneille - Esau and Jacob

The “lives” of Sarah

“And Sarah lived a hundred, and twenty, and seven years.”

The lives of Abraham and Sarah are intertwined with the spiritual changes in the Universe. In particular, the life of Sarah is the beginning of the revelation of Strength, when one requires spiritual perfection of himself and of others. It is well known that the name Sarah means “Princess,” and therefore she is connected to the level of the Crown, or Perfection. That is indicated by the letters of her name spelling “Rosh”, or “Head,” meaning the head of all. That is the symbolism of the 100, the letter yud (10 sefirot, with Keter, Crown being the highest) times yud (10*10).

Sarah’s twenty years represent Wisdom (Chochmah, starting with the letter chet, or 8), and Understanding (Binah, starting with the letter Bet, or 2). Since these are found in Crown, represented by the letter Yud, 10, we have twenty.

Seven are the six sefirot represented by the human body. Since they are lower than the Crown, the Crown’s ten is not added to them, but instead it is only 1, representing their unity.

Initially these years were called “Sarah’s lives,” because she was destined to live this lifespan. However, after she has lived them out, with everyday’s spiritual intensity, they were now called “years of Sarah’s life,” because in the whole world these were now years colored and influenced by her presence.

Art: Peter Paul Rubens - Portrait of Princess

Lech-Lecha – Your land, your birthplace, your father's house

"God said to Abram, 'Go away from your land, from your birthplace, and from your father's house to the land that I will show you....'"

Why is this idea repeated three times? We have discussed here, here, and here that the forefathers, especially Abraham, embody the five spiritual entities of our world, which are influenced by Abraham's deeds. These entities are hidden and imperceptible, and they hide within each other, but they are the ways of God's interaction with the physical world.

Kindness (Chesed), which Abraham represents, has three foundations. The lowest is Victory (Netzach), which can also be translated as Eternity. It corresponds to "your land" because it is the closest to Rulership, representing the land and the female.

The next, higher level of Kindness is called "your birthplace" because it is hidden in the so-called mouth, opening, of the 'ever,' member, denoted by the letters A-V-R of Abraham's name," and is connected to birth. "Your father's house" is a hint to Wisdom and to the Supernal Father.

At the beginning of Abraham's life, the spiritual image of Cosmic Man, or Zeir Anpin, was young, and his brain was not fully developed. Therefore, Abraham was causing supernal unions solely through his Kindness. However, as Abraham's life progressed, he caused the Cosmic Man to mature and acquire Wisdom. Abraham is the forefather who is connected with Kindness, and Kindness has the quality of never deteriorating as it descends through the spiritual world. This caused him to receive an additional "hei" letter in his name, whereas Isaac and Jacob did not receive other letters.

Art: Willem Bartsius - Abraham Pleading With Sarah On Behalf Of Hagar

Vayelech – One suffers for many

“God said to Moses, 'The time is coming for you to die. Summon Joshua and let him stand...”

The first letters of the words “Joshua and let him stand” (את יהושע והתיצבו באחל) spell out the name of Job (איוב). Also in the phrase “And people will see God and believe in Him” (את יהוה ויאמינו ביהוה), the first letters again spell out Job (איוב). What is this a hint to?

One can compare it to a shepherd who saw a wolf, took a large goat and gave it to the wolf, but in this way saved all of his flock. So God took Job and gave him over to the accuser, in this way saving the Jews from annihilation in the future. So too Moses – everything that happened to him, including not being able to enter the Land of Israel – was for the sake of saving Israel in the future.

Art: Philip Reinagle - Birds of prey, goats and a wolf, in a landscape

Ki Tavo – Evil is a mirror image of Good

Previously we explained how bringing the first fruit to the Temple helps protect the Cosmic Female from Evil Forces. We also saw that the eleven curses pronounced on the mount Eival are related to the eleven spices burned in the Temple, and how both reflect the Sefirot of Good and of Evil.

Now we can discuss the structure of the forces of Evil in more detail. The phrase, “Cursed is the person who makes a sculptured or cast idol” is related to the Erech Anpin (Long Face) of the Evil forces, or the Husks. So far, we've seen the Erech Anpin (Long Face) as one of the higher spiritual forces (called Parzufim) in the world, as related to the ways of God's interactions with the world. Since the evil forces are an (almost) mirror image of the good ones, now we are looking at the evil force named in the same way.

That is why the Torah says that one will “places it in a hidden place” – hidden place is the reference to the hidden force of Erech Anpin, who is concealed beyond and with the help of the highest world of “Nearness”- nearness to God. If one counts the words in this phrase (אָרוּר הָאִישׁ אֲשֶׁר יַעֲשֶׂה פֶסֶל וּמַסֵּכָה תּוֹעֲבַת יְהוָה, מַעֲשֵׂה יְדֵי חָרָשׁ--וְשָׂם בַּסָּתֶר), from the beginning to the word “[hidden] place,” he will find exactly thirteen words. That is in reference to another name of the Long Face, or Atika Kadisha, the Ancient Holy One. His beard has thirteen strands, hints to the highest secret of the world, revealed by Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai to his students in his lecture called "Idra Rabba", "Large field."

The next phrase, about a man who curses his father and mothers is in reference to the Supernal Father and Supernal Mother. After this come the next five curses, and they correspond to five Sefirot of Zeir Anpin, the Cosmic Man, and then comes the “cursed is the man who sleeps with his sister” - in reference to the Cosmic Woman, the beloved of the Cosmic Man, for she is indeed his sister. Still, the Evil forces are subservient to the Good, and are not a complete mirror image, hinting at Good's final victory.

Art: Philipp Otto Runge - The Artist's Parents

Shoftim – Peace

“If a true solution is hidden from you, in matters of blood (capital punishment), legal regulations,leprous marks ... a dispute in your gates (courts), then you must go up to the place that God your Lord shall choose.”

To explain what this phrase really means, the Arizal quotes the Zohar talking about the destruction of the Temple. At this time, the angels asked God, regarding a phrase in Psalms, “The impudent dug pits for me, which is not according to your Torah.” They said, why should the wicked prosper? Why should the righteous who observe Your Torah suffer? They continued with three specific claims.

First, they said, Master of the World, You wrote in Your Torah that during ritual slaughter “One covers the blood with dust.” Your servants are not only careful to eat only kosher animals and birds and to observe the laws of shechitah, but they also fulfill Your commandment to cover the blood of the killed birds with dust. Nevertheless, the impudent enemies “They spill their blood like water.”

The second claim: You wrote, “Don't kill the mother and its offspring in one day.” Your servants not only fulfill this commandment, which teachers them mercy, but the seller of the mother tells the buyer of the offspring, "Keep in mind that I sold its mother today, and wait with your slaughter till tomorrow." Nevertheless,  You allow them to be killed, parents and children together, as the Psalms say, “And the sons are slain.”

Thirdly they said, You wrote, “And the Kohen will examine the house and command to clean it out.” You punish your children with the sickness of their houses, which teaches them to be generous and not stingy (the leprosy of houses is the punishment for stinginess), and moreover, they ask a Kohen to examine their house, and obey his decision. In reward, you allowed the enemy to destroy Your House, as the Psalms say, “They destroyed Your House.”

To all of this God answered, “Is there peace between them? And if there is no peace between the people, they cannot rely on any of the promises.”

All this is hinted to in the phrase above: “matters of blood” - that is covering blood with dust; “legal regulations” - that is the laws of mother and its offspring; “Leprous marks” - that is the Kohen who examines the house. Why is all this? - Because of the “disputes in your gates.” What is the answer then? – Go to the place that God has chosen, study the Torah and through that you will become as one, and this will put peace among you.

Art: George Peter Alexander Healy - The Peacemakers