On Reading The Zohar Without Understanding

“The learning of the Zohar is higher than any other learning, even if one does not understand what he is reading, and even if he reads the words with mistakes. It is, nevertheless, very beneficial for one's soul because although all of the Torah is the Names of the Holy One, blessed be He, it is related in the form of stories, and one who reads it, understands the stories, and pays attention to the simple meaning of what he is reading. On the contrary, the Book of Zohar consists completely and openly of the secrets, and one who reads them knows that these are the secrets and the mysteries of the Torah, except that he may not completely understand them because they are related in a dense manner, and because of his limitations.”

Chida, quoted by Shaarei Zohar of Rabbi Daniel Frisch

Art: Gerard Ter Borch - The Reading Lesson

There Is No Contradiction Between Multiple Opinions

There is no place in the laws of the Torah for a contradiction; when some Sages hold one opinion, and others hold a different one, all of these explanations flow and end up on one place, called “Kingship,” or better yet, “Qeeenship,” which is another name for the Oral Torah. Not only these opinions end up in one place, but they also originate in one source – the Foundation of the Cosmic Man, also called Zeir Anpin. What, then, is the reason for the disagreements? When an opinion comes out from the Foundation, it may lean more to the right, Kindness, or to the left, Strictness, but it invariably comes back to the same Kinghsip. Thus we have the rule about the disagreements of the early Sages that “Those and these are the words of the living God.” That is the meaning of King Solomon's, “All rivers go to one sea, all go to one place.”

If the secrets of the Torah are its inner essence and if they illuminate the other areas of learning, then why is the study of them not widespread? Rabbi Shimon explained it with this phrase of the Torah: “God formed every wild beast and every bird out of the ground... every living soul... but the man did not find a helper.” The wild beasts and birds symbolize people without knowledge. Since they lack understanding, they are no help for a man. Even those who are called “living soul” and who study the Law, they, too, are of no help for man in exile if they do not investigate the reasons and are not seeking for the secrets in their learning.

Art: Eva Gonzales - Secretly

Mystical Secrets Are The Essence Of Torah

The secret meaning is the real essence of the Torah teachings. The practical parts of the laws were only necessary so that the light of the Torah could be constricted and conveyed to us, for otherwise we could not bear it, because it would be too much. In the uppermost of the four spiritual worlds, the world of Nearness to God, the Torah is called “Kabbalah”. Is it also called “Pshat.” The simple meaning of the word “Pshat” is just that, “simple meaning.” However, this word comes from the Song of Songs, “Pashat'ti at kutonti” - I have taken off my garment – because in the world of Nearness the Torah is seen as its essence, without the physical garments hiding it. That – adds Rabbi Chaim Vital, the primary student of Arizal – is the main meaning of the word “pshat.”

Adam, the first man, was “working the garden and guarding it.” Working meant doing positive commandments of the Torah, while guarding referred to the negative ones. However, how is this possible? For example, how could he observe “do not plough with an ox and a donkey put together,” if he had no need to plough? The answer is that Adam had to keep the two spiritual husks, one called “ox” and the other “donkey” separate and not allow them to unite. Adam's Torah was Kabbalah.

The Song of Songs said, “The curves of your thighs are like jewels.” The word “curves”, “chamukei” stands for the first letters of a common teaching in the Talmud, “chasurei mechasra v chachi kotani”, which means “the Mishna is missing a phrase here, and here is what it really means.” The words of the Mishnah and Talmud are essentially secret codes, and in these cases the plain meaning had to give way to the necessity of phrasing the rule according to its secret meaning. Understanding these is the goal one should strive for, and it is the meaning of the prayer we say before learning the Talmud, “Unveil my eyes, so that I can perceive wonders from Your Torah.”

Art: Pierre Auguste Renoir - The Garden In The Rue Cortot At Montmartre

The Mystical Meaning Of Sacrifices – They Tie The Room Together!

“God said to Noah, 'The end of all flesh has come before Me...'”

What does this phrase mean? – “End of all flesh” is the name of a spiritual entity that came before God. It is also called “The Other Side,” or “Sitra Achra,” because it has the permission to pretend that it acts independently of God.

It is called “End of all flesh” because it desires to literally “End all flesh,” that is, to entice a human into worthless pursuits, until death. However, it desires the meat of the sacrifices as well. In that case, it enjoys seeing the destruction of the flesh of the sacrifices. In fact, the physical part of the sacrifices is indeed brought for its sake, whereas the spiritual part is for the sake of man and God.

However, even when the “Other Side,” or “End of all flesh” achieves its goal, and sees the death and rotting of a person – which is analogous to burning of sacrifices – it is only given control over the body, but the soul returns to Gan Eden, where it originally came from. Back to sacrifices, the desire and intention of the one who brings them are the spiritual element of the sacrifices, and, similar to the soul of a human, his intentions ascend to Heaven and tie all spiritual worlds together.

When a righteous person dies, his death is analogous to a sacrifice, and serves to elevate and achieve forgiveness for the world. The Other Side enjoys his body, and through this present it is bribed and has no more power to accuse the World. His soul, through its elevation, brings benefits to all the spiritual worlds. Each level of his souls is use to uplift the corresponding spiritual world, and in this way the righteous is a complete perfect sacrifice.

Another person, who is not worthy, and is not fitting to be a sacrifice – his body also goes to the grave and is given to the Other Side, but his soul does not ascend, and higher levels of the souls – he does not even posses them. He is analogous to a blemished sacrifice, which is not desired even if brought. Thus, the righteous atone for and improve the world, and are an atonement sacrifice for the world.

Art: Anne-Francois-Louis Janmot - On the Mountain - The Poem of the Soul

Clear Illuminating Oil For Menorah - mystic meaning of Tetzaveh

The letters of the Name of God, which means "I will be," alef-hey-yud-hey (אהיה) can be expanded, that is, spelled out in this way: alef = alef-lamed-pei (אלף), yud=yud-vav-dalet (יוד), and so on. Thus we get the expansion that consists of ten letters (אלף הי יוד הי).

In its turn, this expansion can be further expanded, and we will get a Name that consists of twenty-seven letters (אלף למד פי - הי יוד - יוד ויו דלת - הי יוד). Note that when given a choice of spelling a vav, we spelled it with a yud, vav-yud-vav (ויו). However, we could also spell it with alef, vav-alef-vav (ואו). If we do that, we will arrive at a different expansion of the Name of God, with alef (אלף למד פי - הי אלפ - יוד ואו דלת - הי יוד), and it, too, will have twenty-seven letters.

These twenty-seven are the same gematria as the words "clear" or "Zach" (זך). The two-thirds division is found in many places. It indicates that we are dealing with an entity with three parts. For example, the Jewish people are composed of three groups, Kohanim, Levites, and Israelites. The Tanach comprises the Torah, Prophets (Neviim), and Writings (Ketuvim). The Kohens give people a three-fold blessing. Every week, one should repeat the Torah portion of the week three times: two in the original Hebrew and one in the Aramaic translation of Onkelos.

The two-thirds here, represented by the two expansions of the Name of God and the words "clear," hint at the two-thirds of the Beauty of the Cosmic Man, Zeir Anpin, which are revealed to his female counterpart, the Cosmic Woman. When they are made known to the Cosmic Woman through his Foundation, which acts as a seal of their union, the purpose of the oil, "to bring out the light," becomes known, and "Light" is the Cosmic Woman. The phrase "clear illuminating oil to bring up the light (in the Menorah)" is thus a hint to their supernal union.

Art: The Menorah by Luigi Ademollo

Yitro – “I Am Your Brother!”

“Yitro said to Moses, 'I am your father-in-law Yitro, come out and greet me'...”

We can ask, if Yitro is talking to Moses face to face, why does he need to say, “I am your father-in-law?” Moses can see who he is! In the words “I am your father-in-law”, in Hebrew “ani chotencha” the first letters constitute “ach” - “brother”. Yitro was a reincarnation of Cain, and Moses was a reincarnation of Abel, and Yitro was telling to Moses “I am your brother!”

In his previous life, Cain denied logic and judgment, when he said “Am I my brother's keeper?” In this life as Yitro he came to correct this, and this is why he said, “Come out and greet me” - to fix my previous lifetime. Fittingly, his contribution was to teach Moses about judgment, when he taught Moses how to select and appoint judges. The words “Cain” and “Din” – judgment – are also hinted to in the title Yitro, “Priest of Midian” - “Kohen MiDin.”

Soul's travels are more complex than the pattern of death and re-birth. A soul may be taken away from one and given over to another. The soul of a righteous may come and join one who is trying to do good. That is the meaning of the words “One who is trying to purify himself is being helped from Heaven.” Cain later came back as Korach. That is the meaning of the words “And Korach took.” What did he take? A bad purchase – the soul of Cain. That is why he “rose up against Moses” - just like he rose up against Abel in his previous life, and that is why he descended alive to Gehennom, from where he is brought up monthly to proclaim, “Moses is right, and his Torah is true, and we are deceivers.”

Art: Johann Anton Alban Ramboux - The Eberhard Brothers

Beshalach – Jews Leaving Egypt As Soul Leaving the Body

An excellent way to understand the story of Exodus is to see in it a lesson about the soul leaving the body. "When Pharaoh sent the people away" is setting the stage; it means "When the soul (the people) is leaving the body." Egypt – Mitzraim – means "boundaries," and Pharaoh – Oreph (neck) – represents the body that is stubborn and stiff-necked. At this time, the Evil forces (the people's tormentors) pursue the soul (which is spiritual and thus never gets sullied) and want to harm it. These are the same materialistic evil inclinations that seduce the soul; they are the ones that cause its demise, and they are the ones that accuse it later on.

And God strengthened the heart of Pharaoh, and he pursued the people and overcame them, encamped at the sea, "chonim al ha yam" - means Gehinnom, and that is the "sea," or the stream, by the name of Dinor. When the Pharaoh approached them, they "were terrified of suffering and cried out to God." They asked Moses, "Why did you have to take us out of Egypt? Weren't there enough graves there?" This means, "We don't want to die. We had enough trouble in this earthly existence, and now we are subjected to the cleansing in the grave! We were better off within our known troubles during a lifetime than flying to others that we know not of."

On the contrary, the righteous always desire to die (that is, in this world and live in the next one, the world of Truth). With this, one can understand the three days of darkness, which correspond to the travel from "Migdol" to "Pi Chirot" - from "Tower" to "Freedom."

Moses, who represents man's good potential, told them, "Do not be afraid (of the punishment) because it is for your own good." Moses continued, "You will not see your tormentors ever again" – they will stay in the sea – the stream of Dinor. After being cleansed in Gehinnom, you will not see your bad part again.

Art: Ferdinand Hodler - A Troubled Soul