Vayera – Bring Joy to Father and Gladden Mother

“God appeared to Abraham in the Plains of Mamre...”

The only improvement and correction that we need to do in the world is to help the Cosmic Man (Zeir Anpin) and the Cosmic Woman unite – since all of the good influences and our souls themselves come to us from them, and they are our Father and Mother. As Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai explained, “Your father will rejoice and your mother will be glad” is talking about the Holy One Blessed Be He and the Community of Israel.

As Rabbi Shimon warns, we should have no doubt about the unity of God, even when we learn about different spiritual entities, but understand that they are God’s ways of interacting with us, and creating ways for us to reach out to God. Thus, the "Holy One Blessed Be He" refers to that manifestation of God called the Cosmic Man, whereas God himself cannot be determined or grasped at all, and is instead called “Ein Sof” or “No End”.

The Cosmic Man and Woman achieve unity only at specific times and through our efforts, but the Supernal Father and Mother are higher entities who never separate from each other. However, even that is not exactly true. The verse about sending away the mother bird, “You will send away, send away the mother” is in the spiritual sense talking about the Cosmic Woman and the Supernal Mother, and both are at times separated from their male counterparts. Rather, there are two categories of the supernal union, and it is the higher one that never stops. Thus, out task is to make all spiritual entities ready to be united. The essential step of bringing about the supernal union was Abraham’s circumcision, prior to which the union was prevented. That is reflected in the names of Abraham’s confederates. The letters M-N-Z-P-CH represent the judgement that needs to be sweetened, and it was Mamre, whose name has the same gematria, who gave Abraham the advice.

Art: Tivadar Kosztka Csontváry - The Lovers Looking at Each Other

Lech-Lecha – Three Unions

“I will make you into a great nation.”

Previously we discussed how Abraham was able to create joy in the Universe, and how his name hints at the union of the spiritual Cosmic Man (Zeir Anpin), and Cosmic Woman, which he helped achieve.

With the giving of the Torah, the opportunities for such unions became more readily available. They are achieved, in different fashion, on New Moon, Rosh HaShana, and on Three Holidays. Abraham was able to achieve this in his days, but since his own main characteristic was kindness, it followed that he supplied mostly Kindness to the union, and the Cosmic Man, who benefited from it, grew mostly in his Wisdom, which is connected to Kindness. That is what God told Abraham, “I will make you into a great nation,” emphasizing “you” personally, with your unique qualities.

Isaac, too, was able to achieve this union, and his contribution came from Strength, which was his main part, resulting in the Cosmic Man's growing in Understanding, which is connected to Strength. However, something new happened in the days of Jacob. His quality was that of Balance, which is alternatively called Beauty, Truth, and Completeness. His bed and progeny was complete (twelve tribes), and he was able to reconcile Kindness with Strength. For the Cosmic Man it meant that Knowledge was added to his brain. The balance was greater than the some of its part, because now a complete whole could emerge.

Nevertheless, it was Abraham, who received an extra letter “hey” in his name, and his “hey” hints at Understanding, “Binah,” which is mostly responsible for the Cosmic Man's maturity. Its lower-level manifestation starts in Victory, Glory, and Foundation, which in a human body correspond to the right leg, the left leg, and reproductive organs, and from there the Understanding proceeds to the brain. That is why, after Abraham merited to arouse the Upper Union, he was given the letter “hey” in his name. In truth, Isaac and Jacob did not heed an extra letter manifestly, because they already received this influence from Abraham.

Art: Frederic Bazille - Family Reunion

Noah – Pleasure and Rest

"These are the chronicles of Noah: Noah was a righteous man, faultless in his generation. Noah walked with God.".

Noah is the first person who is mentioned as being righteous, and this is the first time that the concept of righteousness is mentioned at all. The idea of righteousness was implicit in the creation of the world from the very beginning. For example, God said, "It is not good for a man to be alone; I will make a wife for him." Thus, it was implicitly made clear what God considered "good": for a man to get married and establish a family.

The next righteous person mentioned is Adam's son Seth, about whom it says, "And Adam had a son in his likeness and form," that is, just as perfect as Adam when he was created, but again, this is implicit. Actually, all ten leaders of the generations mentioned between Adam and Noah were righteous. That is why they are mentioned. The concept that a man is created to be a "philosopher," a "decent person," a "moral person," used in various philosophical and religious teachings, is made apparent here for the first time. Why is this?

Noah represents the concept of Foundation, or Righteousness, of the Supernal Father (Aba Ilaa), a spiritual entity God constructed out of the remnants of the initial souls that broke up because they could not imitate God in doing good to others. Now the new spiritual entities could interact with each other, could mature, and thus could interact both with humanity and the Creator. The righteousness of the Supernal Father is the reflection of the righteousness of God and is the intense feeling of "right" and "wrong" that each human has inside.

The Foundation of the Supernal Father extends into and gives life to the Foundation, or righteousness, of the Cosmic Man (Zeir Anpin), which can be thought of as the sum total of human spirituality interacting with the Divine. The righteousness of the Supernal Father is shared with the Supernal Mother (Ima Ilaa), and it also is the source for the righteousness of the Cosmic Female (Nukva), who reflects God's presence in this world.

The name Noah embodies the above concepts because it means "pleasure" or "rest," "menuchah" in Hebrew. The curse of Adam was lifted from the earth in the days of Noah. Noah also invented the plow to simplify the working of the land.

Art: Giorgio De Chirico - Love Song

Nitzavim – 370 Lights

“After all these curses come upon you... God will collect you from the lands of all nations of the world, to which He had dispersed you... and bring you to the Land of Israel.”

This passage contains the phrase, “God will bring you to the Land of Israel.” This is the 5708th phrase from the beginning of the Torah, and the year 5708 (1948) corresponds to the year of the establishment of the State of Israel. The passage itself consists of ten phrases, and each phrase has the name of God Adonay (יהוה). Some of the phrases contain the name of God twice, making up 14 names of God, with the gematria of 14 * 26 = 364.

Further, God promises to increase the fruit (פרי) of your hands, your womb, and your animal, and these three fruits with their three letters yud (ייי) is one of the syllables in the 72-letter name of God. The first letters of the passage “God will again rejoice” (ישוב יהוה לשוש) constitute another syllable (ילי) of the 72-letter name of God. Together, these six letters complete the 364 and bring it to 370.

These are the 370 lights that anyone who turns away from bad and becomes good deserves, and the 370 lights are extended to him from Above. The source of these 370 is in the highest spiritual entity, Erech Anpin, or Long Face, hinted at in the phrase “God will again pity and love us.”

Art: Ignace Henri Jean Fantin-Latour - Fruits and Flowers

Ki Tavo – Eleven Curses

"Cursed is the person who makes a sculptured or cast idol."

This is one of the 11 curses given on the mountain Eival. The 11 blessings negating these curses were given on mountain Gerizim, and they were the complete opposite: "Blessed is the person who makes a sculptured or cast idol." There were also 11 goat skins used in the construction of the Tabernacle and 11 spices in the mix used for daily incense burning. Why are there eleven? One would expect ten since there are ten Sefirot, the ways of God in the world. As the Sefer Yetzirah insists, "There are ten sefirot and not eleven." There is a spiritual rule, "One who increases diminishes." How can it be violated?

In truth, just as there are 10 ways of Holiness in the world or 10 Sefirot, so there are 10 ways of evil corresponding to them. There is an additional spark of life of Holiness that gives life to all the 10 ways of evil. The secret of this is in the phrase, "And His Kingship is ruling over everything," sung on Rosh HaShanah. 


However, there is a difference between the 10 ways of good and the 10 ways of evil, in that the 10 ways of good are called Thusness and Essence, and they are also called Vessels. It is this Essence that sustains and makes the good alive, and being of the same kind, it is mixed with them, and this is represented by the 10 coverings of the Tabernacle. It is different from the 10 ways of evil, whose Essence, being good, does not mix with them but hovers above them, making the whole group consist of eleven parts. The eleven curses, goat skins, and spices all work on the bad to subdue and ameliorate it.

Art: Barbieri - The Spice Shop Paolo Antonio

Ki Teitze – Beautiful Woman Is Your Soul

“When you wage war against your enemies, God will give you victory over them, so that you will take captives.”

As a child, man is given over to his evil inclination, as in “sin is waiting at the entrance to the world,” and he does not start on the road of self-improvement, if at all, until he matures. That is the meaning of “when you wage war against your enemies,” who are your evil inclination and the members of your body, accustomed to self-gratification since childhood. However, “God will give you victory over them” – when one tries, he can indeed become better. Then “you will see a beautiful woman” - that is your soul. She will have to “trim the hair of her head,” that is, get rid of erroneous preconceived ideas. “She will have to pair her nails,” that is, to abstain from the overabundance of even permitted physical pleasures. And she will have to change the dress in which she was captured – that is the garment that the soul had created through her previous wrong deeds.

Now she will cry for her father – that is God, and her mother – that is humanity. She will do this for a month – and that is the month of Elul, which precedes Rosh HaShana and Yom Kippur. She will cry for a “month of days” - that is, the soul should rush as if she only has days, not years, in which to perfect itself.

Art: Blanzifiore by Dante Gabriel Rossetti

Shoftim - Courts and Judgement

The Large Sanhedrin, or the Supreme Court of 71 judges, represents Understanding. Understanding, in turn, is the secret of the Supernal Judgment, as reflected in the name of God “The King of Judgment” which we use between Rosh HaShannah and Yom Kippur. Understanding and Repentance are spiritually synonymous, and these are the days when Understanding rules. The 71 judges in the Sanhedrin reflect the name of God Adonai (יהוה) with its gemetria of 26 plus the deep knowledge represented by the expansion of this name (יוד הא ואו הא), with the gematria of 45, and 26+45=71.

The Smaller Sanhedrin courts of 23 were first consulted on every matter, even that of capital punishment. The requirement for the 23 arises because the 10 are the minimum to acquit, two more are needed to find guilty, which gives 22, and since the court cannot have an even number of judges, they add one more.

However, there is a deep meaning for this number. The name of God usually connected to the quality of Mercy is Adonai (יהוה), and its expansions, for example, the one above (יוד הא ואו הא) have 10 letters. So 10 are needed to acquit. The name of God connected to strict judgment, Elohim (אלהים), has 13 letters in the expansion (אלפ למד הי יוד מם). Thus 23 judges can properly combine the Mercy and the Judgment and arrive at a just result.

Art: Charles Hunt - A Plea For Mercy