As stated earlier we are in the 49 day count(7 weeks of consolation) from the ninth of Av to Rosh HaShanah that does in a sense track all of the history of the priestly people wandering over the entire Earth and "walking in beauty", as the Navajo prayer goes. Making this a holy Makom as it was stated in last weeks torah parsha-Eikev, "Cal HaMakom", every place you walk will be made sacred. This 49 days we are in now are also coinciding with the important cycle of Nogah/Venus moving from the evening star phase to the dawn star in the fourth of the seven weeks. Rosh Chodesh Elul, the new moon of Elul comes during the special eight days when Nogah is in conjunction with the Shemesh/sun in the aryeh/lion, and not visible in the sky. During that week we read the parsha Shoftim and in the Sepher HaZohar we have a brief part of the Reeh Mehemnah/Faithful Sheperd ZoharIII-274b-275b concerning Shoftim/Judges. here the Zohar tells us that the number 49 is equal to the prayer of the Shema that unifies the worlds, the 25 letters of the six words of the Shema and the 24 letters of the Baruch Shem Cavod....equaling the 49. Here we are again in the seven weeks/49 day walk from destruction to the ingathering of the dance of history. The sacred walk away from Har Sinai to the return of Sinai by the building and revealing of the sacred temple who is the Mother Earth. At the beginning of the moon of Elul, the moon of return, we sound the shofar every dawn till the festival of trumpets. This is actually another 49 day count if we extend it to Hoshanah Rabbah during the feast of Sukkoth when we celebrate the Temple earth whose vault is the starry sky and whose walls are the tree boughs and leaves and fruits. The Zohar in this part reminds us that the 7 midot/sephirot of the Etz Chaiim/tree of live hold the 248 limbs of the complete human(also the number of words in the vahavta/shema) that reflect the positive mitzvoth. Our individual walk builds the tabernacle, a sacred temple of the trees and sky and Earth. " Blessed is he/she who is attached to the Tree of life, with his/her body and limbs, for they are a candle. Each branch is a candle of a mitzvah with the 248 positive mitzvoth."Zohar III-274b. The individual walk and the journey of history, the 49 days, have lighted that sacred fire of emunah/faith that is being felt through a shuddering planet Earth. We are to feel, see and hear the awe. The Zohar on Shofitim speaks to us about the sanhedrin/council of the 72, how this is the value of the word Chesed/compassion. ""the greater light to rule the day", it says, HaShem will command steadfast love/Chesed in the daytime. "and the lesser light to rule the night" means: and in the night HaShem's song shall be with me", the song of the levites that is the yesod/foundation. The son of Jesse/David lives upon the adamah/sacred Earth. "Zohar 275b. The living adamah/Earth joins the chai/life of the holy tree, the limbs of all humanity and the plants and the animals and the rocks, in the mystery dance that this ingathering is all about. The Zohar ends here by telling us about ten types of shirim/songs. With our ten fingers we build this pleasant tabernacle and holy temple whose vault is the starry night sky. With our ten toes we have walked through all of history and made this tabernacle a place of celebration. A dwelling for song and dance.
PS-long time friend of this blog, JS asked me about using the kameas/magic boxes. the book "Secret of the Torah" by Ibn Ezra has a good commentary about using the square of 3X3/9 and how it relates to the names. These grids reveal patterns in the continuum of being/heavens and how these patterns may manifest in the physical creation. Our sacred seven day week is directly related to the seven boxes. Time is holy. the 49 day counts are therefore always somehow related to the 7X7 grid of Nogah/Venus. That box has the number 25 in the central square which relates to the Shema and the grid of 5X5-Me'adim. If we study the interrelationships of the seven boxes we have a path of bringing in the chockmah conciousness beyond regular thinking. HaShem is the supreme mathematician. This brings awe into our life. American baseball fans may connect to how "we are all related" if they know who is wearing the number "25" in the center spotlight these days.
1 comment:
Amazing, and of course, Chesed is 72! Right there in front of me and I didn’t see! There must be myriad connections here?! Is the process of “unification” then related to revealing chesed at the heart of everything?
Am I correct that Chesed is also connected to Jupiter - which is connected to Tzedek? You write that 72 is connected also to the Sanhedrin – which make sense as the Sanhedrin was the arbiter of tzedek “below” (but there were 70, not 72, no?). Is chesed “above” revealed as tzedek “below”? Does Jupiter have a kamea of 4? 4 groups of 18 are 72; twice is 144 –12x12, connected to the tribes, to the nature of the physical world, as you have written before. Again, there seems to be something strong here about unification below and above…
Also from this post, a new way of thinking about sukkot. Always sukkot was for me about learning to experience vulnerability, exposure – a stripping away of the illusion that by building metaphorical and sometimes even physical roofs and walls, we control our destinies (evoking a gorgeous poem by Yehuda Amichai on living on the “outside” of the ruined home, a place of danger, but in which colors and scents are also more vivid and love stronger). It is a sense of exposure I have always associated with living in Israel, the place that is NOT like an Egyptian vegetable garden, but in which existence depends on the falling of rain.
But from your post, a new way of thinking about sukkot – as living within and protected by the shelter of the earth, within “The Bayit”. (On second thought, perhaps these alternatives aren’t so far apart – the paradox that holds a greater wholeness.) Still, you’ve raised a new way of thinking that resonates on a personal level. Lovely!
Finally, the information on the kameas: thank you for the ongoing tools! I need a cup of tea and hours, days, years, what’s left of this lifetime (and no small amount of inspiration from shamayim) to try and sort all of this out…!
Yikes, it’s not easy to be a student of a blog; often I’ve no idea how to proceed! Can’t sense where other “students” are; where you are in terms of intended directions. Running somewhat blind, feeling that if I don’t ask the questions, no matter how poorly formed (actually incredible unformed), then you will move on and I may lose the opportunity. Not particularly graceful - like to catch shooting stars! And a bit of jet lag has loosened whatever remains of orderly restraint; please forgive….
What a rain is falling on this temporary American sojourn of mine! The Creator’s koach and gevurah indeed fill the world!
Shabbat Shalom,
js
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