Matot – Long steps take away man’s eyesight

The Torah describes dividing the spoils of the war with Midianites, giving a full account of the numbers of human captives and animals, as well as the division. The account is almost thirty phrases long and seemingly gives the numbers which will never be needed again.

First, all of the spoils are divided into two. Then 1/500 is taken of the first half and 1/50 of the second half. All the numbers of all groups of animals are spelled out, and it can serve as an exercise in integer division.

The Arizal, however, asks two sorts of questions. First, the practical ones: why were the numbers specified in this order, and why the word “tax” is mentioned about the first and not the second division. He answers that when they were anyway dividing by 500, they did not have to be precise in counting and only cared about the final tax outcome. With the division by 50, they counted every animal like tithe and, like mentioned on Rosh Hashana, when everyone goes “under the rod.”

Second, there is a mystical hidden meaning, the key to which is the statement of the Talmud that “long steps take away 1/500 of man’s eyesight, but the Kiddush on Shabbat restores it.”

There are multiple connecting steps here: first, the secret of Bilam’s prophecy about the end of history, “I see it but not here, I perceive not, but it is not close,” which is related to the concept of stepping outside of time. This, in turn, talks about the Cosmic Female who was together with her Man (Zeir Anpin) in the womb of their mother (Supernal Mother). However, these are not physical bodies but the letters of Hey and the Vav, which is part of Hey in the name of God. This “coming out” is Judgment and Strength, and it is called “division of spoils” in our physical world. This division is represented by “those who went to war” and “the part of the congregation that stayed.”

Art: Balaam blessing Israel by William Brassey Hole

Acharei Mot – Fire, woman, and wine

"Two sons of Aaron brought an unauthorized offering of fire before God and died."

The two sons of Aharon who died were called Nadav and Avihu. The name Nadav (נדב) can be understood as “four sons” (ד-בן) - just as when the Pesach Aggadah says, “The Torah spoke of four sons,” it means these four sons, and they are Adam, Cain, Abel, and Seth. A further hint to this is in the name of Avihu (אביהוא), which means father (אבי) he is (הוא) - that is, Adam.

Thus, the two sons of Aharon were born to rectify whatever Adam and his three sons did not do correctly in their lifetimes, as their names hint to the following: Nadav means four sons, and Avihu means the father. They came to rectify Adam's faults, but instead, they were steadfast in them.

The first one was the fire. Before Adam married Eve, he was together with another woman, called Lilith. This is hinted at in Adam's words about Eve, "This one will be called a woman, because of her connection to the man." This one, but not the previous one. However, Lilith was not his true soul-mate, and this represented the wrong fire. As is known, a man (איש) and a woman (אשה) have a common element of fire (אש) between them. The additional letters - yud (י) in case of a man, and hei (ה) in case of a woman - constitute the name of God Yah (יה). If there is the presence of God (יה) in their union, and it is a true union, then this fire warms them, but if not, it burns them. Nadav and Avihu, too, brought an unauthorized offering of fire.

The second problem was wine. When Eve went to the tree of knowledge of good and evil – which was a grapevine – she squeezed out the juice of grapes and gave it to Adam in this form so that he would not know that it came from the forbidden tree. He should have understood this and stop himself, but he did not.

Nadav and Avihu, too, were drunk on wine when they brought their offering. This is hinted to in the very first phrase in this Torah portion, “Two sons of Aaron” (שני בני אהרן). If you take the last letters of the words, you get wine (יין). The first letters of the words "after... two sons" constitute “from fire” (מאש).

Later, Moses told Aharon that his sons were great, higher than Moses and Aharon themselves. He meant that they came from a higher source – Adam, while Moses came from Adam's son, Abel. They, therefore, had greater potential.

Art: Dutch School - A young boy holding a giant roemer of wine

Slides

Yitro – Here I come!

“He sent word to Moses: 'I, your father-in-law Jethro, am on my way to you...'”

Jethro came to Moses after he “heard about all that God had done for Moses and His people Israel when He brought Israel out of Egypt.” Why didn't he come before, on his own accord? After all, Moses was his son-in-law, and the leader of the Jewish people; besides, Jethro was bringing with him his daughter Tzippora, who was Moses' wife?

The answer is that Jethro was the reincarnation of Cain, and his life had a purpose: correction of the destruction that Cain had committed. There are two theories of when Jethro arrived: before the giving of the Torah (as the sequence of events seems to indicate), or after (which could also work, since the Torah does not always follow the timeline in retelling the events). Both theories have a common point of view, that the essential correction of a person is through Torah. That is the meaning of the phrase in the psalms, “All God's teaching are pure” – that is, they purify the person – and the word “purify” implies strenuous hard work.

According to the first theory, he came to be purified by the Torah which was given shortly afterward, and according to the second, all events and miracles meant nothing to him, but once the Torah was given – he had no doubt that now he had to go. The Torah purified the Jews from the mistake that Adam had made in the first place, and gave them a second chance and a clean slate.

In fact, Abel has exacerbated the mistake of his father Adam by looking at Divine Presence. This happened when he brought his offering, and God “accepted it.” This acceptance meant that Abel was given a chance to experience the Divine Presence, which he misused. Cain, on the other hand, did not have this chance. This “looking” was what made Abel to be liable to be killed by Cain.

At the time of the giving of the Torah, everybody, including Moses, were connected in their soul root to Abel. Jethro was the only exception, for he was the reincarnation of Cain. The continuation of Cain's correction happened through the sons of Aharon, Nadav and Avihu. They tried to use the incense for this, but were also involved in “looking” and thus only partially succeeded – for they died in the attempt – until the final correction came through Pinchas.

Art: Jan Victors - Moses' Parting Of Jethro

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