What is the construct of the form through which Hashem creates the world and we create the Mishkan (Tabernacle)? How does this also parallel the way we receive the Torah, and the final war of Armageddon that precedes the construction of the third Temple? What is the aspect of Binah, which is the 8th aspect, and how does it relate to the first seven?
Find out in this week's parsha podcast.
Running time: 25:38
Showing posts with label Binah. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Binah. Show all posts
Friday, April 13, 2018
Friday, June 2, 2017
Nasso - Maintaining Inspiration
What is the idea behind the gift of the 12 princes of wagons to the tabernacle? What is the depth of what is going on with the repetitious listing of their offerings? Why does it follow the Priestly blessings? Why do both these events occur on the eighth day of the Tabernacles dedication? What is the connection between the numbers 50 and 8? Why does the Torah ask us to count to 49 and seemingly to 50, if we only count to 49? How do we hold onto the inspiration we have received?
Find out in this week's parsha podcast.
Running time: 22:15
Friday, August 28, 2015
Ki Seitze - Intuition and Transcendence
Why does the Torah only tell us the reward for two out of the 613 commandments? Why does it specifically tell us by honoring parents and sending away the mother bird? What is the deeper understanding of the idea of sending away the mother bird when taking the eggs or chicks? How does one access the light of transcendence without being blinded by its' light? How is the intuitive faculty a reflection of that light? How does this idea manifest in the days of the week?
Find out in this week's parsha podcast.
Running time: 25:55
Find out in this week's parsha podcast.
Running time: 25:55
Tuesday, May 12, 2015
Behar-Bechukosai - 50,000 Years of the World
What is the 'secret' of the Shmitah and Jubilee years? How do they correspond to the 50,000 year cycle that the world will last for? How does the Yovel (Jubilee) correspond to Shavuos, which is on the 50th day? What is the difference between the concepts of six and seven (Moshiach ben Yosef and Moshiach ben Dovid) as opposed to the eighth and fiftieth? Why couldn't Moshe get into Israel? Why couldn't he perceive the fiftieth gate of intuition? Why is exile the punishment for not keeping Shmitah and Yovel?
Find out in this week's parsha podcast.
Running time: 23:14
Find out in this week's parsha podcast.
Running time: 23:14
Friday, January 10, 2014
Beshalach - Transcendent Song
Why does the Torah refer to the song that was sung at the sea of reeds in both past tense and future tense? What is the concept of the Hebrew word 'az' - then? Why does the Exodus climax with a song? What does Rashi mean when he says that Moshe's heart was inspired to sing when he saw the miracle?
Find out in this week's parsha podcast.
Running Time: 16:37
Friday, August 31, 2012
Ki Seitze - Sending away the mother
What is the concept of sending away the mother bird? How does it relate to the idea of Binah - intuition? What is the depth of the reward of 'long days?' How can one reach a goal if one is overwhelmed by the goal?
Find out in this week's Parsha Podcast.
Running time: 19:28
Find out in this week's Parsha Podcast.
Running time: 19:28
Friday, August 24, 2012
Shoftim - Preparing for war
How can we be assured that God will be with us when we go out to war? Why does the Kohen use the phrase 'Shema Yisrael' - Hear O Israel - when he introduces his speech to the cavalry? Why is the concept of the heart repeated so many times? What is the concept of hearing and how does it relate to the heart and to the idea of Binah/intuition? What is the concept of Hashem's throne? How does this connect to the sound of the Shofar?
Find out in this week's Parsha Podcast.
Running time: 22:05
Find out in this week's Parsha Podcast.
Running time: 22:05
Friday, January 27, 2012
Four fifths
I was thinking about the plague of darkness, where we find that our sages tell us that four-fifths, or 49/50 or 499/500 died amongst the Jewish people. To understand this on the surface level would have us calculate the Jewish people to be five, fifty or five hundred times 600,000 before the plague of darkness. The very fact that this number is so fantastic hints that chazal here are not teaching us something literal, but instead, this statement is included in the concept that they would hide deeper concepts in fantastic statements, in order to repel the uninitiated, and teach a deep lesson to those who have the key.
To understand what could perhaps be the true depth of chazal in this instance, we need to look at the numbers chazal use, as the numbers are generally the key to unlocking what chazal were actually referring to.
It is remarkable that at the point of the plague of darkness, we have passed the four fifths point of the ten plagues. Being that the plagues correspond to the ten sefiros (as do all groups of ten), we can see that the concept of four fifths means that we have passed Binah and are now in Chochmah, the ninth of the sefiros when we count from the bottom up.
If we look at the numbers 49 vs. 50, we see the concept of the seven times seven lower sefiros (as we count from Pesach to Shavuos), and the fiftieth level, which is Binah.
If we look at the number 499 vs. 500, we have the concept of צבאות, whose gematriah is 499. This concept always refers to the two legs of Netsach and Hod, which are the third and fourth from the bottom of the עץ החיים.
Thus, while we would initially perceive an ascension in the numbers 4/5, 49/50, 499/500, we are actually looking at a descending point in the sefiros.
I believe that chazal are hinting to a very deep concept here, which is spoken about by the Izhbitzer. There is a process of birur, purification, through which the Jewish people as a whole, as well as every individual, comes to the realization that Hashem is all there is, that everything is truly Him. During this process, the dross of physicality is slowly burned away, and the individual or nation recognizes that all the externals are nothing more than illusion.
During the process of the plagues, the Jewish people were being purified through this process so they could merit to leave Egypt. Each מכה had the effect of burning away another layer of externality, until the core was revealed.
As one rises through the sefiros, one finds the more rarefied essence which is at their core. In the levels of Soul, the aspect of Nefesh corresponds to Malchus, the lowest of the sefiros. Ruach corresponds to the next six; Neshama corresponds to Binah, the eighth. The makifin levels of Chaya and Yechida correspond to the last two sefiros, Chochmah and Keser, which are levels of transcendent unity.
It could be said that chazal are hinting to this idea when they say that 'four-fifths of klal yisrael died during the plague of darkness.' This could mean that the lower aspects of reality were removed, and the Jewish people had access to their higher selves, the unifying aspects of their chayah and yechida.
On another level (because everything is relative), the forty nine levels represent malchus and the next six, the seven lower sefiros (multiplied by seven). The fiftieth represents the level of Binah, which corresponds to Neshama. Here, too, we can say that there was a removal of the lower, outer aspects of the Jewish people, such that the Neshama was revealed.
On still another level, the 499 represents the aspect of צבאות, which corresponds to the concept that the Jewish people (or Nevi'im, who access prophecy through netsach and hod) are but 'hosts' for the Divine that 'rides' upon them. When the outer aspect of the 'host' is stripped away, the Divine within is revealed, which is the 500th aspect (or תתקצ"ט).
The point is that chazal are showing us that the purpose of the plagues in general, and the plague of darkness, in particular, was to strip away the layers of darkness surrounding the soul-essence of the Jewish people. The four-fifths, or 49/50, or 499/500 of the Jewish people that died here could very well not have been a percentage of the Jewish people as a whole, but rather, a percentage of each individual as their outer 'garment' of physicality was removed, and their soul essence was revealed.
This is what is to happen for each one of us as Moshiach arrives and we have the corresponding experiences to the sefiros. We will iy'H soon see Hashem revealed in each and every human being until the moment when we will realize that there really is no other besides for Him. ביום ההוא יהיה ה' אחד ושמו אחד. May it be soon. Amen.
To understand what could perhaps be the true depth of chazal in this instance, we need to look at the numbers chazal use, as the numbers are generally the key to unlocking what chazal were actually referring to.
It is remarkable that at the point of the plague of darkness, we have passed the four fifths point of the ten plagues. Being that the plagues correspond to the ten sefiros (as do all groups of ten), we can see that the concept of four fifths means that we have passed Binah and are now in Chochmah, the ninth of the sefiros when we count from the bottom up.
If we look at the numbers 49 vs. 50, we see the concept of the seven times seven lower sefiros (as we count from Pesach to Shavuos), and the fiftieth level, which is Binah.
If we look at the number 499 vs. 500, we have the concept of צבאות, whose gematriah is 499. This concept always refers to the two legs of Netsach and Hod, which are the third and fourth from the bottom of the עץ החיים.
Thus, while we would initially perceive an ascension in the numbers 4/5, 49/50, 499/500, we are actually looking at a descending point in the sefiros.
I believe that chazal are hinting to a very deep concept here, which is spoken about by the Izhbitzer. There is a process of birur, purification, through which the Jewish people as a whole, as well as every individual, comes to the realization that Hashem is all there is, that everything is truly Him. During this process, the dross of physicality is slowly burned away, and the individual or nation recognizes that all the externals are nothing more than illusion.
During the process of the plagues, the Jewish people were being purified through this process so they could merit to leave Egypt. Each מכה had the effect of burning away another layer of externality, until the core was revealed.
As one rises through the sefiros, one finds the more rarefied essence which is at their core. In the levels of Soul, the aspect of Nefesh corresponds to Malchus, the lowest of the sefiros. Ruach corresponds to the next six; Neshama corresponds to Binah, the eighth. The makifin levels of Chaya and Yechida correspond to the last two sefiros, Chochmah and Keser, which are levels of transcendent unity.
It could be said that chazal are hinting to this idea when they say that 'four-fifths of klal yisrael died during the plague of darkness.' This could mean that the lower aspects of reality were removed, and the Jewish people had access to their higher selves, the unifying aspects of their chayah and yechida.
On another level (because everything is relative), the forty nine levels represent malchus and the next six, the seven lower sefiros (multiplied by seven). The fiftieth represents the level of Binah, which corresponds to Neshama. Here, too, we can say that there was a removal of the lower, outer aspects of the Jewish people, such that the Neshama was revealed.
On still another level, the 499 represents the aspect of צבאות, which corresponds to the concept that the Jewish people (or Nevi'im, who access prophecy through netsach and hod) are but 'hosts' for the Divine that 'rides' upon them. When the outer aspect of the 'host' is stripped away, the Divine within is revealed, which is the 500th aspect (or תתקצ"ט).
The point is that chazal are showing us that the purpose of the plagues in general, and the plague of darkness, in particular, was to strip away the layers of darkness surrounding the soul-essence of the Jewish people. The four-fifths, or 49/50, or 499/500 of the Jewish people that died here could very well not have been a percentage of the Jewish people as a whole, but rather, a percentage of each individual as their outer 'garment' of physicality was removed, and their soul essence was revealed.
This is what is to happen for each one of us as Moshiach arrives and we have the corresponding experiences to the sefiros. We will iy'H soon see Hashem revealed in each and every human being until the moment when we will realize that there really is no other besides for Him. ביום ההוא יהיה ה' אחד ושמו אחד. May it be soon. Amen.
Wednesday, September 21, 2011
22 Elul
The world was created on the 25th of Elul, and Rosh Hashana was Friday, the sixth day of creation, when Man was created. The second day of Rosh Hashana corresponds to the seventh day of Creation, Shabbos. It is interesting to note that these seven days of creation correspond to the lower seven sefiros. It would seem logical that the three days prior correspond to the three upper sefiros. Thus, the 22nd of Elul (today) would correspond to Keser, which is the hidden root of all of the sefiros, the 23rd would correspond to Chochmah, and the 24th would correspond to Binah.
The Torah begins with the word "Beraishis," which starts with the letter 'Beis.' The letter Beis corresponds to the concept of Chochmah, and thus it could be said that it refers to the 23rd of Elul. The Torah does not begin with Alef, to denote the fact that the aspect of Keser, which is the Alef, (אלף = פלא) is beyond our understanding, nothing that we can relate to. Thus, today, the 22nd of Elul, is the day of Keser, beyond understanding. This corresponds to the idea that the initial statement of Beraishis, which is a non-statement, is the concept of Keser. Whereas each of the following acts of creation are prefaced with the words, "And Hashem said..." the initial act of creation was not prefaced by a statement. "In the beginning Hashem created..." implies a statement, albeit a hidden one. Thus, implied in the concept of Beraishis contained in the first word of the Torah is the hidden statement of Keser, which corresponds to today, the 22nd of Elul. Interestingly, the concept of 'Briah' - creation, and the name 'Elokim' both correspond to the sefirah of Binah, which we said parallels the 24th of Elul. Thus, in the words בראשית ברא אלקים (In the beginning, Elokim created), we have a reference to the three days preceding creation on the 25th of Elul.
The Torah begins with the word "Beraishis," which starts with the letter 'Beis.' The letter Beis corresponds to the concept of Chochmah, and thus it could be said that it refers to the 23rd of Elul. The Torah does not begin with Alef, to denote the fact that the aspect of Keser, which is the Alef, (אלף = פלא) is beyond our understanding, nothing that we can relate to. Thus, today, the 22nd of Elul, is the day of Keser, beyond understanding. This corresponds to the idea that the initial statement of Beraishis, which is a non-statement, is the concept of Keser. Whereas each of the following acts of creation are prefaced with the words, "And Hashem said..." the initial act of creation was not prefaced by a statement. "In the beginning Hashem created..." implies a statement, albeit a hidden one. Thus, implied in the concept of Beraishis contained in the first word of the Torah is the hidden statement of Keser, which corresponds to today, the 22nd of Elul. Interestingly, the concept of 'Briah' - creation, and the name 'Elokim' both correspond to the sefirah of Binah, which we said parallels the 24th of Elul. Thus, in the words בראשית ברא אלקים (In the beginning, Elokim created), we have a reference to the three days preceding creation on the 25th of Elul.
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