Within the Reaya Meheimna, the “Faithful Shepherd” portion of the Zohar commentary for this weeks parsha, Behar, is a beautiful summing up of the endless Source, HaShem, in relationship to the directional “space” that is our world. This is a synopsis of the formative working conception of the theoretical part of the path we call Kabbalah. This prayerlike passage is especially beautiful in light of the millenium, the decade and the time of year we are experiencing right now. Every moment now is as a fulfillment of the ancient prophetic traditions. The synchronicities are everywhere and all the time. They are actually now fused with time itself and quite visible. If we remember the image that the primer of Kabbalah(Sepher Yetzira) uses in it's first chapter to explain the working world view of five continuums we will recall the cube. The six faces times the twelve edges times the eight corner points (6X12X8=576)yields 576. This number as stated elsewhere represents a completion of the temple tradition built on the cubic throne. We are in the seventh year of the 576th decade(5767) of the priestly walk of this people who are commanded to be a holy people and make the world holy. From the Zohar we are told how the cube of directions that defines this sacred road are all joined together with the Source. “ Though they are souls in relation to the Throne and the angels they are to You, the Cause of Causes/Eylat Haeylot, as a body/cegoufah. For it is You who unites them and attracts them, and hence our faith/emunah in You, with them. And there is no soul above You , to which You will be as a body, for You are the Soul of Souls/Neshamah Laneshamot… You are outside everything and inside everything, on every side above all and below all. There is no other Elohim above, below, in any direction, or inside the ten sephirot, from which everything comes and upon which everything depends. You are in every sephirah through it’s length and width, above and below; You are between the sephirot/saphirah vesipherah and in the thickness of each and every sephirah/sephirah vesephirah…..For the Shechinah is an offering/korban, an anointing oil/shemen hameschat.”
The knitting together of all the sephirot or directions we may travel in are fully understood with the cubic form. The very substance of the creation allows for the Source, HaShem to unite with the Shechinah who is the soul of the Mother Earth. All neshamahs/souls are rooted in her. The cube is another form of the Tree of Life that weaves all together. The six faces of the cube are the six directions of space - up and down, left and right, front and back. These are made sacred as the faces of the six matriarchs of Israel and the center point, of the cube, the tabernacle, is the shechinah, the seventh who the women of Israel(and all holy women) manifest. These are the same seven spheres we count in these 49 days(seven weeks of seven days) of the omer between Pesach/Passover and Shavuot/weeks. The Shechinah is called in this Zohar parsha the Daughter of the Seven/Bathshevah). This very year 5767 is a completion in a sense of these seven “lower” sephirot. When we complete the counting of the 49 days(7X7) we enter the upper waters, the soul ocean of Binah which is also one of the vertices or endpoints of the continuum of time. Thus we are entering eternity which is one of the three axis of the cube. Three axis+six faces and the center = the Ten. We are counting in microcosm through the faces and center of the sacred cube and we enter the inner workings on the 50th day which is Shavuoth, the day of illumination of the Torah herself. We are however at this same place historically with the millenniums walk of the holy peoples. 576th decade X ten plus seven = this Hebrew year 5767. The last three years of this decade corresponding to the upper worlds of the Tree of the sephirot and the three axis of the cube using that form to visualize the throne in the physical. Like the Zohar tells us the Eyn Soph, the endless source of the entire manifested universe is so fully intertwined with the creation that the Talmudic expression is very fitting, HaShem glories in the hiddeness. In the medieval alchemical wisdom tradition there is said to be the philosophers stone, a stone which is so bright that when a person possesses it, it renders that person invisible. It is so bright that it confuses and dazzles those people around the bearer of the stone. The universe is in a sense under the same condition as a person who has taken possession of the much sought after stone of alchemy. The true Source of the universe may be hard to recognize for those not aware of their own path of initiation, as is the dazzling stone of initiation that a person might carry. The Zohar speaks also in this section about the four chambers of the human heart in relation to the sections of the temple, “The two courtyards refer to the outer part of the heart, representing two handles of the heart. The two inner chambers represent two chambers of the heart. The inner are two and the outer are two. At the time of the Redemption, the Redemption will be for all of them: those close to the heart, which is the Shechinah, and those from afar who came near, since this is the essence of the verse, Peace, Peace, both for far and near(Yeshayah 57:19)Zohar, Faithful Shepard-Behar section)”.
Shalom Shalem for everyone. Happy and Joyous Lag B’omer!
The knitting together of all the sephirot or directions we may travel in are fully understood with the cubic form. The very substance of the creation allows for the Source, HaShem to unite with the Shechinah who is the soul of the Mother Earth. All neshamahs/souls are rooted in her. The cube is another form of the Tree of Life that weaves all together. The six faces of the cube are the six directions of space - up and down, left and right, front and back. These are made sacred as the faces of the six matriarchs of Israel and the center point, of the cube, the tabernacle, is the shechinah, the seventh who the women of Israel(and all holy women) manifest. These are the same seven spheres we count in these 49 days(seven weeks of seven days) of the omer between Pesach/Passover and Shavuot/weeks. The Shechinah is called in this Zohar parsha the Daughter of the Seven/Bathshevah). This very year 5767 is a completion in a sense of these seven “lower” sephirot. When we complete the counting of the 49 days(7X7) we enter the upper waters, the soul ocean of Binah which is also one of the vertices or endpoints of the continuum of time. Thus we are entering eternity which is one of the three axis of the cube. Three axis+six faces and the center = the Ten. We are counting in microcosm through the faces and center of the sacred cube and we enter the inner workings on the 50th day which is Shavuoth, the day of illumination of the Torah herself. We are however at this same place historically with the millenniums walk of the holy peoples. 576th decade X ten plus seven = this Hebrew year 5767. The last three years of this decade corresponding to the upper worlds of the Tree of the sephirot and the three axis of the cube using that form to visualize the throne in the physical. Like the Zohar tells us the Eyn Soph, the endless source of the entire manifested universe is so fully intertwined with the creation that the Talmudic expression is very fitting, HaShem glories in the hiddeness. In the medieval alchemical wisdom tradition there is said to be the philosophers stone, a stone which is so bright that when a person possesses it, it renders that person invisible. It is so bright that it confuses and dazzles those people around the bearer of the stone. The universe is in a sense under the same condition as a person who has taken possession of the much sought after stone of alchemy. The true Source of the universe may be hard to recognize for those not aware of their own path of initiation, as is the dazzling stone of initiation that a person might carry. The Zohar speaks also in this section about the four chambers of the human heart in relation to the sections of the temple, “The two courtyards refer to the outer part of the heart, representing two handles of the heart. The two inner chambers represent two chambers of the heart. The inner are two and the outer are two. At the time of the Redemption, the Redemption will be for all of them: those close to the heart, which is the Shechinah, and those from afar who came near, since this is the essence of the verse, Peace, Peace, both for far and near(Yeshayah 57:19)Zohar, Faithful Shepard-Behar section)”.
Shalom Shalem for everyone. Happy and Joyous Lag B’omer!
1 comment:
During the last few days of the counting - why not explain the sephirot and how they relate to the personal tikkun of the neshama?
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