Meditation for Lag B'Omer Day – Gratitude ad Infinitum

The Sefirah associated with the day Lag B'Omer (today) is Glory within Glory or gratitude inside gratitude. When a man is grateful to God, he should add that he is grateful for the possibility of standing in front of God and being grateful. He thus completes and perfects his gratitude with the help of gratitude itself.

However, he does not have to stop there. He can now be grateful for his capacity of being able to be grateful for being grateful. This chain has no end. It is reminiscent of God's desire to create the world, which had to be preceded by a desire to have a desire, and so on, also ad infinitum.

Compare this to Littlewood's idea of gratitude with potential infinity.

“The following idea, or coda to the series, was invented too late (I do not remember by whom), but what should have happened is as follows. I wrote a paper for the Comptes Rendus, which Prof. M. Riesz translated into French for me. In the end, there were 3 footnotes. The first read (in French), 'I am greatly indebted to Prof. Riesz for translating the present paper.' The second read, 'I am indebted to Prof. Riesz for translating the preceding footnote.' The third read, 'I am indebted to Prof. Riesz for translating the preceding footnote,' suggesting reflexiveness. Actually, I stop legitimately at number 3: however little French I know, I am capable of copying a French sentence.” (Littlewood, Mathematical Miscellany).

Why does Littlewood stop at 3 while we continue ad infinitum? Obviously, because he is grateful not for the quality of being grateful but for translating his gratitude. Our gratefulness is for gratefulness that we get into the infinite loop – which is better at stretching the mind than the finite.

Art: Gustave Courbet - Eternity

Like two lovers who make peace (Vayikra)

After Moses spoke to God, his face radiated light, which people could not look at directly. The power of this light was 1,000. How do we know that? In Hebrew, the word "thousand" is "elef." The word close to it is "alef," the first letter of the alphabet. The Hebrew spelling of "one" and "thousand" is the same: אלף.

The "falling out" of God and Moses was repaired through Moses' prayers and the building of the Temple. When the Temple was finished, God called Moses for a conversation.

In Hebrew, "he called" is Vayikra, וַיִּקְרָא.

The Alef, which used to signify 1,000 and measured the light of Moses' face, became small. It was reduced 1,000 times. That was the effect of the Golden Calf. The Torah, spelling the letter alef small, reminds of the previous problematic act.

Moses (Moshe) represents two spiritual entities who give birth to the souls of the righteous. The summary of the calculations shows that the name Moses is the sum of these two spiritual entities:

אחור יסוד אבא

פנים יסוד אמא

קפד = 184

קסא = 161

345 = םשה (Moshe)

Using these and other connections, Kabbalists give meaning to the words of their prayers and make them more powerful.

Art: Galatea of the Spheres by Dali

He will die two times (Mishpatim)

"One who hits a man so that he dies will be killed two times" is the death penalty in the Torah. Literally, it says, "he will be killed, killed," and that is usually translated as "he will surely be put to death." Why is it two times, and what more is the Torah conveying?

Moses was the reincarnation of Abel. In the Torah, Moses is called "man." The Jews called him that when they said, "This man Moses, we do not know what happened to him." So when the Torah says "one who hits a man," it means Abel and his reincarnation, Moses.

The first murder in the Torah is Cain killing Abel. Since Abel was later reincarnated as Moses, and Cain was reincarnated as that Egyptian whom Moses killed, then this was the first time. The second time happened when Cain was reincarnated as Korach. Moses killed him again by making the ground swallow him.

One can notice how precisely the judgment is meted out. Cain hid Abel in the ground. Corresponding to that. Moses covered the Egyptionan with sand. With Korach, Moses made the earth swallow him to make the message very clear.

Art: Cain and Abel by Titian

Take the Torah, Or Else... (Jethro)

Jews did not have much choice when offered the Torah. God told them that if they did not accept it, He would destroy the world and turn it back to void. 

To make the offer actionable, God formulated it as such: "And it was on the third day" (בהית הבקר ויהי). The first letters of these three words spell bohu (בהו) - which implies destruction.

(Incidentally, other nations were also offered the Torah but refused it as not fitting their nature.)

Art: Moses with the Tablets by Guido Reni

Travel to Israel for burial (Beshalach)

Moses took Joseph's remains with him from Egypt to Israel. That was not easy. Egyptians buried Joseph in a metal coffin in the river Nile. However, Moses came to this place and said, "Ox, come up!" And Joseph's coffin floated up. 

Earlier, when Joseph told Egyptians to get circumcised, he also converted them. Moses cared for them and took them out of Egypt. These were the "mixed multitude" who went together with the Jews out of Egypt. Since Joseph started their conversion process, he now merited to see the mitzvah to the end.

Even though the mixed multiple caused multiple troubles to the Jewish people, they nevertheless represent the purpose for which the Jews ended up in the dispersion - to collect these souls and bring them back.

Art: The Water of the Nile by Frederick Goodall

Finger of God (Vayera)

When Moses turned the dust into lice, the Egyptian magicians could not repeat this feat. Until now, they could duplicate the plagues, what with the snakes and blood, but lice were out of their reach. They said in explanation, "This is the finger of God."

It is well known that magicians were operating through demons. Since demons cannot control objects smaller than a barleycorn, they could not reproduce this feat. However, what led them to believe that God was involved and not, say, Moses's magic?

The answer lies in the name of God, אלהים. The possible permutations of the letters of God's name number 120. Like this:

אלהים

אלהמי

אלמיה

אלמהי

...

Since the first letter can be one of 5, the following letter one of 4, and so on, you end up with 5*4*3*2*1=120 permutations. The Gematria (numerical value) of "lice" (כנים) is 120. That is how the magicians knew.

Pharaoh's death also came through this. Even evil people are sustained by God, albeit unwillingly. Pharaoh's sustenance came from the last two letters of God's name. Pharaoh was drowned in the Red Sea (ים סופ). The Red Sea combined the last two letters of God's name (ים) with the word (סוף), meaning "end."

Art: Pharaoh and His Army Drowning in the Red Sea by David Colijns

Moses was born circumcised (Shemot)

Moses was born already circumcised. Since he was Jewish already from birth, he refused the milk of Egyptian women. When the daughter of Pharaoh found him, she had to find a wet nurse for a three-month-old baby, and this is when she tried the Egyptian wet nurses without success.

Where is that in the Torah? The sister of Moses, Miriam, said to Pharaoh's daughter, "Shall I go and find one of the Hebrew women to nurse him?" The first letters of her words spell "He is circumcised."

מִן הָעִבְרִיֹּת; וְתֵינִק לָךְ - "from the Hebrew women, to nurse him for you."

First letters:

מהול - circumcised

When Moses's mother first looked at him, "she saw that he was good." That is because the foreskin is called "bad," and Moses was "good," that is, circumcised. 

Art: Moses in the Bullrushes by Elizabeth Jane Gardner Bouguereau