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SHOFETIM: “BE PURE!”

It is written: תמים תהיה עם ה’ אלהיך Tamim tihye im Hashem Elokecha, “You shall be pure/perfect with the L-rd your G-d” (Devarim 18:13, Shofetim). The gematria absolute (mispar hechrachi) of this pasuk/verse is 1112. I saw that this is the same gematria of the pasuk ‘ונח מצא חן בעיני ה  Ve-Noah matsa chen be’einei Hashem, “And Noah found grace in the eyes of the L-rd” (Bereshit 6:8). Moreover, the next verse says: נח איש צדיק תמים  Noah ish tzaddik tamim, “Noah was a just man and perfect etc.” Now, the gematria avgad of the cited verse (from Shofetim) is 421, the same as the expression לישועה  L’yeshuah (“For salvation”). And this is my understanding: as Noah was a righteous tam, he found the Divine grace that saved him from the mabul/deluge, while all other human beings perished. To have pure and simple faith – to be a tam – is something that can save a person from his “personal deluge”. Moreover, the tzaddik helps “sweeten” the deluge of others. When the person comes to the tzaddik b’tzedaka (meaning, “giving a tzedaka”), of gematria 201, this mitigates (“sweetens”) the five states of gevurah (corporified in the sofit/final letters mem-nun-tzaddi-pei-chaf), being 201 x 5 = 1005, the gematria of ish tzaddik tamim. Perhaps this can better understood as 1005 / 201 = 5. The righteous takes the tzedaka and “distributes” (divides) it in order to sweeten the gevurot/severities. There is a difference between the ish tzaddik and the ish tsadik tamim, because the gematria of the first is 515, the same as yesharah (“straight”, see the Ari”zal, Sefer HaLikkutim, VaEtchanan), but the attribute of tamim/pure gives a degree yet superior to the tzaddik. In this manner, the wholeness of being comes through righteousness (being “straight”) with the purity and simplicity that honors e makes the tzelem Elokim/Divine image shine. We see that מי כה’ אלקינו המגביהי לשבת  Mi ka’Hashem Elokeinu hamagbihi la’shavet, “Who is like the L-rd our G-d, who dwells on high” (Tehillim 113:5) has gematria 1005.

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TRANSFORMATIONAL FIRE

As it is written: “Devekut [bonding] with Hashem is one of the 613 commandments. One is obligated, in accordance to ones ability; to make all efforts to properly observe this mitzva, at all times. One must be bonded with Hashem continually, with great yearning, and with sparks of burning love. There is no greater attribute than this, for all things are included in it. The difficulty in achieving it [devekut] is in direct proportion to its level of importance. The one who sanctifies himself below, is sanctified by above by Hashem, until such a time when that one receives a spirit from above which purifies, and sanctifies him. It is an obligation accordingly with you hability to make all efforts in order to fulfill this mitzva in the appropriate way in all moments” (Rabbi Eliezer Papo, Peleh Yoets, Dalet, Devekut). Now, it is written: והאש על המזבח תוקד בו Ve-haesh al-hamizbeach tukad-bo, “And the fire shall be burning always upon the altar; it shall never go out” (Vayikra 6:5). If we consider this pasuk without the initial vav and hei, I realized that its gematria is 981, the same as for ואתם הדבקים ביהוה אלהיכם חיים כלכם היום Ve’atem ha’devekim baHashem Elokeichem chayim kulchem hayom, “But you who held fast to YKVK are alive every one of you this day” (Devarim 4:4, Vaet’chanan) – possibly the most emblematic verse regarding the mitzva of devekut in the Torah (as well as Devarim 10:20 and 13:5). As such, the fire at the altar is the passion for Hashem that needs to burn constantly in the heart of man. Nothing is more transformational than devekut.

 

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BEHA’ALOTECHA: “PULLING ON EARS”

Once upon a time there was a rasha that came to a tzaddik saying he wanted to learn Torah. Truly, he did not want to learn, because all he wanted was to disturb the tzaddik. Anyway, the tzaddik said to the rasha: “Let us begin by learning the Alef-Bet. This is the letter Alef“. And the rasha answered him: “How do you know that this is the letter Alef?”. The tzaddik then took the rasha‘s ear and pulled on it. The rasha said: “Ouch, you are stretching my ear!”. And the tzaddik replied: “Who told you this is your ear?” From this mashal/story we learn the nature of the yetser hara/evil inclination. See, she knows well the yetser hatov/good inclination. She says to it: “Go do a mitzva, go study Torah or pray”. However, deep down it does not want any mitzva done. Therefore, when the person goes to fulfill a mitzva, like in the tefillah, the yetser hara comes and disturbs her. Now, the yetser hatov also knows very well the yetser hara, after all they are always at war with one another. So, it says to the yetser hara that this time she is indeed allowed to lead a person into doing an averah (chaz v’shalom). Then, the yetser hara gets happy and comes very close to make a person transgress, yet before that, the yetser hatov pulls away the yetser hara as if it was “pulling on its ears”, moving her far from the averah, leaving it dejected and subjugated. And regarding the words in the parsha Beha’alotecha, הצר הצרר אתכם Chatzer hatzorer etchem, “The enemy who oppresses you” (Bamidbar 10:9), the Shlach HaKodesh says: “These [words] are a very clear allusion to the yetser hara, since no enemy disturbs us more than the Samech-Mem [Satan]… There is a constant struggle between man and his yetser hara. At times, man wins over the yetsar hara, and in other moments, the powers of the Samech-Mem win over man. In any manner, both are constantly involved in a state of war”. Truly, the yetser hara is the “enemy” that brings that which is מרת morat, (“bitter”) to man. And this term has gematria atbash of 640, the same as the pasuk Chatzer hatzorer etchem. However, if man learns to subjugate the yetser hara, he then walks in the דרך הקדש derech ha-kodesh, (“holy path”), with gematria 633, the same as the gematria albam of Chatzer hatzorer etchem.

tzedakah

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BAMIDBAR: “RAISED HEADS”

Ka’asher tsiva Hashem et-Moshe vayifkedem bemidbar Sinai, ” As Hashem commanded Moshe, so he counted them in the wilderness of Sinai” (Bamidar 1:19). Behold, the term ויפקדם vayifkedem, (“counted them”) has absolute gematria 240, and surprisingly its gematria atbash is also 240. In the atbash method of gematria, the first letter of the alef-bet – alef – is substituted by the last letter – tav, the second – bet – by the one before last – shin – and so forth and so on, inverting the position of the alef-bet. This method seeks in the term or phrase a “secret message” hidden in the result. Conceptually, the hidden secret in this case is the actual original word itself, meaning that, “to count” is its own Sod – the hidden/intimate level of Torah understanding” – of counting. This is in reality something very profound and at the smae time something that belongs to the nature of numbers. In general, when we think on a number we know that it represents some objetive quantity. To count is the action to find the number of elements in a finite set of objects, to establish a correspondence between the set being counted and a (greater) set of numbers. In another level, to count is “to establish”, in the sense of affirming the existence e identity. As such, the counting of the Bnei Israel identify it in the world in a revealed manner, thus allowing its affirmation as a chosen set/group – its recognition. And regarding the counting, Bamidbar 1:2 uses the expression S’eu et rosh kol adat Bnei Israel, that literally means, “Raise the heads of all children of Israel“. The Shem M’Shmuel in this pasuk comments that, “The census gave strength to the people’s Ego”. That is, the fact that all Jews were counted individually was a manner to emphasize the self-esteem of each Jew that in this way could experience the actual “Raising of his head”.

 

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THE PEOPLE ARE THE LAND

It is necessary always to remember that Hashem gave to the Jewish People the Land of Israel, as it is written: ראה נתתי לפניכם את-הארץ Ree natati lifneichem et-haArets etc., “Behold, I have set the land before you; go in and possess the land which the L-rd swore to your fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to give to them and to their seed after them” (Devarim 1:8). This land is a great blessing for our people: Ree natati lifneichem et-haArets and ויברך Vayevarech (“And Hashem blessed”, Bereshit 1:22) both have mispar katan mispari equal to 4. The Land/Shechina is the People and the People are the Land. Israel is the name of the People, Israel is the name of the Land. The People are the Land, the Land is the People. Never can the two be separated, ever. For the Jew, the mitzvot are the “spiritual/energetic tentacles” that directly connect him to the Holy Land – a real and true connection. If we had the technological apparatus to see these connections, in fact they would be seen clearly. And this will occur in the future, when “And the glory of the Hashem shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together; for the mouth of the L-rd has spoken it” (Isaiah 40:5). And this is the reason that Jews are instructed by the Torah that warns us not to eat foods that are not kosher, not to connect or reside near people who are not kosher, etc., not to do this or that etc., because the impurities “glue” to people, so to speak, affecting the body, the mind and the individual’s soul – the heart and the thoughts. When the Jew disconnects himself from the teaching of his holy people and soul, he then causes unbalance in all of his being. And since Kol Yisrael Aruvim Zeh BaZeh, “All Israel is interconnected one with another” (Talmud, Shevuot 39a), if a part of the body is ill and sick, then all of the body is thus affected. Moreover, as the “Body of Israel” is the Holy Land, the unbalance caused by those that neglect the Torah affects all of the Holy Land, which suffers with wars and all sorts of problems, just as a body that gets sick. Behold, ראה נתתי לפניכם את-הארץ Ree natati lifneichem et-haArets has absolute gematria of 1993, the same as the whole pasuk/verse: “They come from a far country, from the end of heaven, the L-rd, and the weapons of his indignation, to destroy the whole land” (Isaiah 13:5). However, know that the Messianic Age represents a time of total internal e external transformation that will cause the “realignment” of all these unbalances – in the Land of Israel and in the world as well – that gravely offended the Natural Laws of Hashem, by which He directs all universes. And when the time comes, then it will be the יום יהוה הגדול והנורא Yom Hashem HaGadol Ve’HaNorah, “The great and terrible day of the L-rd” (Malachi 3:23), when His true and only Mashiach will cure the world, imposing the return of the Natural Law – bringing us to how and where we should be. In addition, the absolute gematria of this prophet’s pasuk is 398, the same as for משחים meshuchim, “anointed”. Moreover, the land will again be raised to the natural stage of the Gan Eden‘s peace and order, amen.

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VERY DIFFERENT INTELLECTS

It is written: “Just as all of the holy partzufim ‘groups of sefirot’ have intellect; the same is true with all of the impure partzufim, both masculine and feminine. However, the difference is this: the evil masculine and feminine partzufim only have two mochin/brains [chochmah and binah], while the masculine holy partzufim have three: chochmah, binah and da’at. The feminine holy partzufim also have only two mochin [chochmah and binah], because as we are taught, ‘The da’at from women is light’ [Talmud, Shabbat 33b]” (the Ari”zal, Etz Chayim 48:2). Chochmah is the flash of insight that penetrates through the veil of the subconscious in the conscious mind. It is an ephemeral experience, since by its own nature, the insight is foreign to the mental structure in which it is introduced. As a foreign entity, if it is not integrated in the mind in some manner, it simply vanishes and it is forgotten. Hence, it is the job of binah (the rational mind) to integrate this new insight in the mental structures and thinking patterns that the individual already has. This is a process of “translation and evaluation”: translating the insight in familiar terms and evaluating the existing mental structures and ideas in terms of the new insight. This new insight confirms or contradicts that which the person already knows and believes, and if there is a “confirmation”, what is its extension and so forth and so on. As such, binah “distinguishes” (from the Hebrew bein, the root of binah) between reality as it is now reflected in the insight and how it was conceived before the insight; thus rebuilding (from the Hebrew boneh) the person’s mentality in the “dawn of the insight”. Even so, all is mental abstract activity. It is the third intellectual component’s function, da’at, to bring relevance and significance to this new mental construct of reality in the person’s daily understanding: Now that I understand reality in a new and more elevated manner, what can this understanding say about the way in which I have lived my life? How should I live it thereafter? Now we can begin to see the essential difference between good and evil, or more precisely, holiness and the mundane. The drive of the holy intellect is a focus on seeking the insight’s relevance, comprehension and knowledge. The evil intellect does not possess this drive. It is completely content to focus solely in the insight’s experience – in the “wow” or “momentary dazzling”, without being “polluted” with its moral preoccupations or relevance. For this kind of intellect, life is just a progression of sterile experiences, exciting in it of itself, but that do not produce any durable fruit or changes in the person’s life or society. This is the reason, thousands study Torah, in particular Kabbalah, and yet nothing truly significant happens, to wit, there is no real transformation, implying on a needed growth in halachic observance. This is what matter if the individual wishes to calibrate himself to Hashem. What happens is that all is mostly treated as a new form of entertainment, and the mindless “wow” experience from listening to the lofty concepts. There are further conclusions, for another time and place.

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ALL ISRAEL IS INTERCONNECTED ONE WITH ANOTHER

Our Sages of blessed memory have taught us that כל ישראל ערבים זה בזה Kol Israel Aruvim Zeh BaZeh, ‘All Israel is interconnected one with another’ (Talmud, Shevuot 39a). What this interconnection means is that we all originate from the same source, that being a Source of benevolence associated with the glory of the Name Kel, which is the Shechina (Zohar 8a, Prologue). Moreover, the Ari”zal (Sha’ar HaPesukim, Lech Lecha), explains that: “Avraham personifies the attribute of chesed, which is signified by the Divine Name Kel, this being the mystical meaning of the verse, ‘The chesed of G-d [Kel] is all day long’ [Tehilim 52:3]”. This means that, the fact that the Name of G-d used in this verse is Kel indicates the association of this Name with chesed.

Now, it is interesting to note that the gematria ordinal (sofit version) of Kol Israel Aruvim Zeh BaZeh is 185. This is the same numeric value of the millui of the Name Kel: (alef-lamed- pei lamed-mem-dalet = [1 + 30 + 80] + [30 + 40 + 4] = 185).

The connection of Name Kel and Avraham, is further seem since “There are 8 Names Kel in the supernal faces of Arich Anpin [which is Keter, and corresponds to the psychological power of will]. All of these are contained within the name Avraham, whose numerical value is 248, the numerical value of these 8 Names” (Sha’ar HaPesukim, Chaye Sarah).

Kel: alef-lamed = 31. 31 x 8 = 248.
Avraham: alef-beit-reish-hei-mem = 1 + 2 + 200 + 5 + 40 = 248.

That is, the “face”[1] of Arich Anpin is the source of the five states of chesed which are expressed in the 8 Names א”ל whose numerical value is the same as that of אברהם Avraham, who personifies this level.

Furthermore, I noticed that the mispar Siduri/ordinal (174) + mispar Katan/reduced (57) + 17 letters (from Kol Israel Aruvim Zeh BaZeh) = 248. This is a poweful connection. And that the gematria atbash is 1495. This is the sum of all values from alef to tav. Alef-tav spells “Et“, the Zohar’s codename for the Shechina. And the complete span of the alef-beit indicating Her divine speech that vitalizes all of creation. In fact, the Shechina is the root of all neshamot, as it is known.

As chazal teachs us, the Jewish People are rooted in chesed, which we see is a direct link to Avraham avinu and mystically, the inner realms of the Shechina. Our people’s interconnections have enormous significance for our own and for the world at large, whereas the most important is the way each and every jew does affect the other spiritually. Hence, the need for Ahavat Israel as the means to preserve the “body” of Israel whole and intact, holy e focused on its evolutionary path culminating on Mashiach, speedily in our days.

On Sushan Purim 5774

[1] I.e., the inner aspect of this partzuf.
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WHY ON PARASHAT MIKETZ IT IS WRITTEN THAT “YOSEF HAD TWO SONS ‘BEFORE’ THE FAMINE” (BER. 41:50)?

According to the Sefer Yetzirah (Mishna 1:5), the space continuum consists of three dimensions and the continuum of time, of two directions (past and future). As such, the Universe is constituted by four dimensions. Moreover, the Sefer Yetzirah explains that there is a fifth dimension, to wit, the moral dimension (spiritual, or soul), which possesses two directions: good and evil. This moral dimension underlines all other dimensions from the space-time continuum. The spiritual trajectory towards good or evil depends on the actions that man impresses upon the dimensions of the Universe, which reverberate in all of the olamot (spiritual worlds and this one, physical). For instance, we see this occurring in the procreative act. As it is known, “if the person sanctifies himself [and has the appropriate kavanot], he will bring a holy garment for the neshama of his child [which will be conceived through the act], and in this way, he will enable him to serve Hashem promptly. Regardless of the greatness that this soul may attain, it is nevertheless important that the father [and the mother] be sanctified during the act. But the neshama itself, apart from its ‘garments’ [i.e., the power of thought, speech, and action which clothe the neshama in its particular spiritual root and degree, which is solely decided by Hashem], is not affected by the sanctification [and kavanot] from the parents; in fact it happens at times that, the soul of a person infinitely elevated comes down and becomes the child of an ignorant and lowly person” (Tanya, Likkutei Amarim 2). However, the ‘spiritual replies’ to the actions of man on the physical level are also bound (and thus dependent) by time and its cycles, which albeit intimately connected to the physical continuum, do transcend it. This is the spiritual law of סוף מעשה במחשבה תחלה Sof ma’aseh, b’machshava tehilah “last to be created, first to be conceived”, alluding to the Bnei Israel, which establishes the precedence of time over space, regardless of its dimensional connection. Hence, certain positive actions, even when appropriate but fulfilled on ‘inappropriate times’ can be without any effect or worse yet, with the contrary effect, chaz v’shalom. For example, Kabbalah Ma’asit teaches that kameyot/kosher amulets for different purposes (e.g., protection for pregnancy, see Ta’amei Ha’Minhagim; Toldot Adam; R’ Menashe Ben Israel, Nishmat Chayim 3:25; Midrash Talpiyot 1, Efod s.v. V’HaEven; Deguel Machane Efraim, Vayicra, et. al.) need necessarily be written not only by someone with extraordinary knowledge and purity, but in precise times, that is, on specific months, days, and even hours of the day! The writing of the kameyot, which disrespects the correct times, loses its positive value, which comes from its alignment with the intermediary angelical forces that govern the five dimensions, thus rendering it incomplete (i.e., without the influence on the angelical entity) and even dangerous (i.e., by calling the attention of negative entities, G-d forbid).

And this is exactly how it was for Yosef. He knew the secrets of the illumination from kedusha/holiness called the time of “seasons, for days and years” (Bereshit 1:14) of plenitude. But he also knew well the secrets “illumination” from tumah/impurity, called the time of time of ‘seasons, for days and years’ of famine. For to know the secrets of kedusha is to know the secrets of tumah. And what is this secret of tumah? “The secret of not procreating [when the sitra achra is ‘illuminated’, to wit] on the ‘seasons, for days and years’ of famine… When the time of famine reigns, it behooves man to sexually restrict and not to allow that the sitra achra be ‘multiplied’ [through the strange souls that in this time of famine descent to the children to be] in the world, G-d forbid” (Zohar 204a, Miketz). In fact, the Ramak (R’ Moshe Cordovero) explains that, “The husband’s marital union with his wife should occur only when the Shechinah is in Its place, which means, between the ‘two arms’ [Chesed and Gevurah]. Now, when the Community is in danger [of famine] and the Shechinah is not between the two arms, these unions are prohibited” (Sefer Tomer Devorah, Perek Tet, citing the Tikkunei HaZohar from parashat Bereshit, Tikkun 69). It is for this reason that Yosef HaTzaddik made sure to procreate ‘before’ this bitter time, thus avoiding any admixture in his acts – through the use of the holy and creative power of his brit kodesh – with the sitra achra. In this manner, he truly prevented the increase of the domain of profanity that would have benefited otherwise, chaz v’shalom, from the kedusha.

(Note: it is equally not a proper time to have marital unions on a night preceding a tzom/fast save exceptions).