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Translation: And (ELOHIM) Saw (the Light)
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Otiot:Letters
VAV (V) :and
YOD (Y):Divine Spark
REISH (R)-Consciousness
ALEPH (A)- Unity
The root of seeing is 'Reish, Aleph'. Again the same consonants as in the
word 'AUR, light ' (Aleph, Reish)but in reverse order. The light going in
one direction is seen by the receiver.
(ELOHIM ET HA'OR)- First time God is described as 'seeing'. In the creation
story " God saw" is repeated seven times. Sefer Yetzira explains that these
seven repetitions parallel the seven double letters( letters which can be
pronounced hard or soft ) and the seven days of the week.
This first mention of Saw (and fourth mention of ELOHIM) is therefore the
root of the first double letter which is Bet (and/or Vet). It is according
to Luria, the path between Chachma and Chesed.
Interesting to speculate that God's seeing is the origin of the Double
Letters. It may suggest something about the dual nature of seeing. In
addition to having two eyes (and perhaps related to it) is our capacity to
see something in two (or more) ways. It can seem like 'this' one moment and
'other' the next moment.
How we see something can perhaps affect how it is. Our understanding follows
our sight.
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Other Related Words:
RA'AH (Reish, Aleph, Heh) is the root of the verb to see.
ReAYAH (Reish Aleph, Yod, Heh) is vision or proof.
YIRA'AH(Yod, Reish, Aleph, Heh) is 'awe' or 'fear'. The emotional content
when 'seeing' something powerful.
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Conceptual Meaning:
The Talmud and Rashi interpet this aggadically and comment that 'the Divine
'saw' that the wicked were unworthy of utilizing this light and therefore
God "hid' the light and stored it for the righteous in the world to come.
Ramban explains that God Saw (since God does not have eyes) implies that
that which is seen is 'permanent' and will continue to exist while God is
seeing it 'bemachshavat lev':with thought of the heart. An internal keeping
it in consciousness is the way the Divine 'sees'.
Hirsch follows Ramban by explaining that "God Saw' teaches that the
"continuation of the creation is dependent onthe free Will of God and God's
Satisfaction. ..the detail and the whole continue in existence only because
of God's Insight...After its creation the Creator looks at the creation and
allows it to continue because the Creator is satisfied with it as long as
the Creator 'is satisfied'. " (Hirsch. p. 8)
The 'seeing' implies the continued existence of that which is seen. On one
level, this is quite obvious, something can only be seen when it exists.
Hirsch continues to explain that this (and the following words) connote a
complete sense of objectivity, a capacity to reflect, discern, evaluate. One
creates something and then looks at it as an object separate from the
creator.
"This act (of seeing) is called in Kabbala and Chassidut, the process of
clarification...the positive critique of one's deeds, to assure that they
remain in tune and in the light of the teachings of Torah. In Kabbala,
'before' Creation is the secret of the right eye and 'after Creation' is the
secret of the left eye. They are the ultimate origins of light and life,
respectively. The right eye gazes at the letters of primordial, uncreated
reality, as engraved in Torah-'reality',, still 'nothing' in the sea of
Infinite Light. They left eye contemplates created reality in relation to
its Torah-model." (Ginsburg, p. 4)
In a paragraph entitled "Seeing with the Eyes of God" Allen Afterman (z'l)
in Kabbala and Consciousness
(an extraordinary book of contemporary Kabbala, Sheep Meadow Press, 1992)
explains:
"A process of perception related to prophecy is the power of recognition.
Recognition is the power to perceive the eternal in a person; the seeing
through to the root of his soul. In this way, one is seeing him, as far as
one is able, as God sees him. One recognizes another by continuosly relating
to what one perceives to be his highest purpose and aspiration...Ultimately
this is also a person's most profound self perception, the source of his own
objectivity towards himself-seeing himself as God sees him." (p. 21)
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VA'YAHR ELOHIM ET HA'AUR- The Creator Reflects and Thinks about that which
was created.
This constant Seeing allows the creation to continue.
The light that is existence reaches Gods' Eyes.
And so our tradition teaches that the Divine is always Seeing all the
creation.
May we be blessed to open our eyes and see God's Eyes.
"Uncover our eyes that we may behold wonders from your Torah" (Psalms
119:18)
MILA YOMIT 22: KEE
Translation: That
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Otiot:Letters
KHAF-first appearance in Torah in this form.
As a final letter appeared previously as last letter of CHOSECH (Mila 11,
please see there for basic letter introduction)
-shaped as the palm of the hand , (three connected lines with
rounded corners)
-means palm, to subdue, suppress
-Kabbalistically related to the power to actualize potential
(koach-'khaf, chet' means both 'potential' and 'actual strength or power')
-'hints at the power latent within the spiritual realm to fully
manifest its potential in the physical realm of the actual' (paraphrasing
Ginsburgh, p. 168)
-numerical value is 20 , twice that of the next letter in the Mila:
YOD (Y): Divine Spark (numeric 10)
YOD is the tenth letter and KHAF follows it as the eleventh letter
In the Alef Bet journey, KHAF thus begins the letters that 'jump' by tens.
Lamed the next letter is 30 and so on. Somehow the transition from YOD to
CHAF is about the power of the YOD to grow, multiply. Perhaps its potential
beginning to manifest and expand.
The letters suggest the vessel that hold the Divine Spark in potential.
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Related Words and Meanings:
Appropriately it is an acronym for Khaf Yad- the palm of the hand.
In Hebrew, it is a milat chibur: conjuction (lit. word of connection) that
also means: for, because, but, as, if, in case, while, when, even though,
although, since, only, lest (Alkalay Complete Hebrew-English Dictionary).
A lot of power in one little word.
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KACH(chaf,chaf sofit-final) means so, thus
KEEL(chaf, yod, lamed) means to measure, to callibrate
KEES- (chaf, yod, samech) means pocket, pouch, again a vessel
KEEYER-(chaf, yod, resh) as noun is a moulding, as verb means to mould, or
model
These words seem to share a commonality in that they refer to a vessel or a
concept that holds some quantity or quality.
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Conceptual Meaning:
The Divine Is Looking at the light, the vessel that was just created and is
creation.
What is the measure or quality that this light is?
Perhaps this verse so far can be read as:
'The Divine Saw the light, that it is…'
or the 'Creator Saw the light because it is…'
What is the potential, what is the power of this light?
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KEE-the inner spark within the vessel of life is…
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May we come to know the inner spark of our life vessel.
MILA YOMIT 23 : TOV
Genesis 1:4
Translation: Good
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Otiot:Letters
TET (T)-first appearance in Torah.(interesting to see which other letters
have not yet appeared. Feel free to investigate and let me know)
TET is the third of the 12 elemental or simple (more unidimensional,
specifically focused?) letters.
(( The full 12 are: heh (letter 5), vov (6), zayin (7), chet (8), tet(9),
yod (10), lamed (12), nun (14), samech (15), ayin (16), tzadi (18), kuf
(19)).
Sefer Yetzira: TET is sovereign over 'shmiya-hearing'.
Astrologically is Ari:Lion (Leo).
The month of Av.
Left kidney in the soul of male and female.
Its archetype (from the 12 tribes) is Shimon
In the tree of life it is the netiv-path from chochma-wisdom to
tifferet-harmony.
It is shaped like a vessel with an inverted rim.
Its numeric 9 is related to the nine months of pregnancy.
Kabbalistically it represents the "concealed good…'good is hidden within it
'…the secret of the tet is the power of the mother to carry her inner,
concealed good throughout the period of pregnancy. Pregnancy is the power to
bring the potential to actualization…the full teaching of the TET is that,
through the service of the soul, all of reality becomes 'pregnant' with God'
s Infinite goodness and beauty, thereby bringing harmony and peace to
'heaven and earth." (Ginsburgh, p. 138-139)
Appropriately, in the calligraphic form of the letter, the white inside
forms an upside down YUD. The Divine within the womb of Good.
The Greek letter TAU becoming English 'T'.
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VAV (V)- connection
BEIT (B) - in its soft form, Vet.
-home of the universe
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The letters suggest a quality that connects and fills the creation.
The creation is pregnant with good.
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Related Words:
TOV seems to be a root word in that it doesn not break down into obvious
constituent parts. It stands on its own. (Perhaps suggesting the simple
unity or oneness of good.)
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Conceptual Meaning:
That which ELOHIM creates is referred to as TOV seven times in the creation
account.
Sefer Yetzira refers to the sefira of Keter: Crown as Omek TOV: The depths
of good 'since it the Sefira closest to God.'
Moshe Chaim Luzzatto, (1707-1747, perhaps the preeminent teacher of
Lurianic Kabbala who brought Kabbalistic understanding to many through his
profoundly important writings) frames the entire experience of creation as
the process of emerging Tov. The following are paraphrases from his KLACH
PITCHEI CHACHMA-138 Opening of Wisdom:
-'the will of the Maatzil-the Emanator is only TOV…even that which is
rah-bad does not come from a different source and in the end will be
obviously good (tov vadai)…the Infinite wishes to bestow complete
good …therefore this creation was designed such that it can actualize the
return of evil to its source in TOV…everything that has even been and that
ever will be until the end of time is toward the singular purpose of "ha'
hatava hashlema: the complete and total good"…this is effected through the
rectifying actions of the human."
TOV is the beginning of God's creation.
The Torah's invitation to humankind is to actively participate in this
return to our essential being.
And thus we return to the Divine Presence.
Rabbi Aryeh Kaplan in Innerspace:
"God created the world in order to bestow good upon humankind (and all
creation). But what is this good? First of all, we must realize that any
good that God gives must the ultimate good that the Creation can accept. The
Psalmist said: "How great is Your good, stored up for those who fear-see
You." (Psalms 31:20)…The ultimate good is God. ..There is no greater good
than achieving a degree of unity with, and experiencing, the Creator…The
ultimate good is to partake of God, and it this good that God planned to
give the world. God would create a world where the creations could
ultimately partake of God's essence and experience God." (Innerspace, p. 10)
Zohar:
"Fortunate is the portion of the human who can do TOV independently for this
awakens the TOV of the Shechina-Divine Presence."
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TOV: All existence, manifestation of Divine Light, an expression and
experience of Divine Love.
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VA'YAHR ELOHIM ET HA'AUR KI TOV:
The Divine Saw the light that it was Tov.
"It is an art of great enlightenment to purge anger from the heart entirely,
to look at all with a benevolent eye, with compassionate concern,without
reservation. It is to emulate the eye of God that focuses only on the good."
(Rav Kook, Lights of Holiness, 3:326)
May we all blessed with the eyes of God
and be blessed to learn the awesome 'power' of TOV-good
and how to birth it.
MILA YOMIT 24: VA'YAVDEL (ELOHIM)
TRANSLATION: And Elohim Divided
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OTIOT:LETTERS
VAV (V): and,
YOD (Y): grammatically sets verb into past , as letter connote Divine Spark
BET(B): home of creation, in some way 'separate from the Divine, the other,
DALET(D): first appearance! Means 'door: delet'. Became Greek Delta,
English D.
Sefer Yetzira: DALET is the third of the 7 double
letters, (bet, gimel, dalet, chaf, peh, resh, tav)
Hard sound-d, soft sound-may have been 'th'.
Its foundation is 'zerah:seed'. Its transposition is 'shmama-desolation'
(double letters imply a duality of nature or experience within the same
energy).
It is related to the sun in the world of space (the light of the sun enables
our seed to manifest).Tuesday in the world of time and right nostril in the
world of soul.
Kabbalistically it represents the door to the Divine Presence. We can either
open it or close it. It is formed therefore like a gate.
Its numeric is 4 and is related to the 4 elements-fire, air, water and
earth, the 4 worlds (making, forming, creating, emanating) and the 4 letters
of Divine Name.
In the Tree of Life it is the nativ:channel from keter-crown to
tiferet-harmony. Running down the middle column.
LAMED (L): learning
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ELOHIM- fifth mention, according to Sefer Yetzira this action produced the
VAV, the second of the simple letters and the pathway from Keter to Bina.
(Significantly the first simple letter Heh was related to Elohim 'hovered'
and is the pathway from Keter to Chachma.) ( Yetzira, p. 6, 29)
(Again, Elohim is mentioned 32 times Creation chapter. Each mention relates
to
another part of the unfolding tree of life.)
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Related Words:
BADAL (B,D,L) is the three letter root meaning as verb 'to separate '
and as noun-'seperation'
HAVDALAH (Heh,B,D,L,Heh) is the ceremony that separates, divides Shabbat and
the week.
BAD(B,D) is a masculine noun meaning 'portion, part' and 'cloth, screen'
DAL(D,L) is an adjective meaning 'poor, meagre, low'
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Conceptual Meaning:
Hirsch explains that BADAL refers not to a simple division, a negative
separating one from another, but it implies a positive allocation, a
separate existence, a separate purpose enabled through the division. Each
part thus allowed to be itself more completely.
Also he explains that the Creator's ability to reflect on what is created
and then act on it (dividing it) even after it was created demonstrates the
Creator's
'mastery'. As the creation begins to manifest the Divine is setting in
order, fixing boundaries.
The Zohar comments that Divided implies that the Creator put away strife, so
that the whole world was in perfect order.
Kabbala teaches of 'orot: lights' and 'kelim:vessels'.
"The light reveals and expresses the Creator's complete greatness. The
vessels limit and delineate God's infinite light enabling it to enter the
finite realm of number and boundary… Through this primal act of Division,
the Divine began to create a vessel that allowed definition and description.
As the process of constriction reaches greater and greater degrees of
concealment of God's light, more of existence becomes revealed as separate
vessels. It is through this step down process that God's light becomes
accessible to us and in turn, allows us to reach up and communicate with the
Infinite." (Innerspace, p.40-41)
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VA'YAVDEL ELOHIM- The Creator began to form the matter of existence into
shape and place.
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This process has continued, so many divisions in all our realms.
This world of division and separation places before us an exquisite
challenge.
As Rav Kook teaches: "The more clearly one studies the character of
individual human souls, the more baffled one becomes over the great
differences between personalities…It is however precisely through their
differentiations that they are all united toward one objective, to
contribute toward the perfection of the world, each person according to
their special talent. Surely one must marvel at the higher wisdom wherein by
an inner, mysterious power, known only to God, these opposites are
integrated and related one to the other, so that through the fusion of all
the diverse minds and physiognomies, there emerges a unified structure of
consummate harmony."
(Boktzer, p. 6)
MILA YOMIT 25: BEIN (HA'AUR) OO'VEIN (HA'CHOSECH):
Genesis 1:4
Translation: Between (the light) and between (the darkness).
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OTIOT:LETTERS
BEIT (B)-house -hard Bet
YOD (Y)-Divine Spark
NUN Sofit -Final Nun-first appearance in this form.
Significantly in Kabbala the final Nun is related to the attribute of
kingship and is called the 'snake'.
Mystically it represents the ability to turn darkness into light. (Perhaps
the source of that is from this verse.)
Also termed "Neeman pashut-straight unbounded faithful one
In form it is the extension of the Infinite.
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Second appearance of same word:
VAV (V) And -pronounced OO-shoorook-which is the way VOV is vowelized when
it appears before a word that begins with a Beit (as well as Vav, Mem, Peh).
BEIT(B)- soft Beit, (pronounced Vet)
(( The double nature of the seven double letters is
interesting. In Sefer Yetzira, Aryeh Kaplan explains:
"The Tikkuney Zohar states that the hard and soft sound are related to the
"Chayot (angelic energies) running and returning" (Ezekiel 1:14). It say
'they run with the hard sound, and return with the soft.'…since Sefer
Yetzira teaches that 'running and returning' also relates to meditative
techniques, it would appear that the hard and soft sounds were used for this
purpose. These seven Doubles would be used to climb the vertical lines in
the Tree Of Life. When the initiate would use the letters to 'run' and climb
upward, they would use the hard sound, and when they would 'return', they
would use the soft sound." (Yetzira, p. 161)
((The double sidedness of these letters is related to their foundation and
its transposition. Bet is 'chachma-wisdom' and/or 'avlat-folly'.
"According to the Tikkuney Zohar, the hard sound implies harsh judgment,
while the soft sound implies lenient judgment. The good qualities would then
be associated with the soft sound, and the bad qualities with the hard
sound. There are however, some authorities who reverse this." (Yetzira, p.
162)
In the Torah the hard Bet is used in BEIN Ha'Aur-light and soft Bet with
BEIN HaChoseh-darkness. As we follow the usage of hard and/or soft bet and
other of the double letters, we may find some understanding of its pattern
and significance.))
YOD (Y)
NUN Sofit (N)
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RELATED WORDS AND MEANINGS:
BEIN is a preposition translated as 'between, among, amidst'.
BEEYEN (B,Y,N) as a transitive verb means 'to interpolate'.
NAVON (N,B,Vav,N) is 'to become wise'.
BONEN (B,Vav,N,N) means 'to perceive, look, pay attention"
BEENA (B,Y,N,Heh) means 'understanding, insight'. Significantly it is the
name for the Third Sefira related to the left brain function of
categorization and discernment.
These meanings and words suggest that the preposition BEIN is related to the
act of discerning and separating due to an understanding of what is
necessary for the overall well being of the situation.
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CONCEPTUAL MEANING:
"VA'YAVDEL ELOHIM BEIN HA'AUR OO'BEIN HA'CHOSECH"
"Before creation, only the Infinite Being existed, and therefore all was
sameness and homogeneity. Sameness is therefore the highest concept that the
mind can comprehend with regard to the Infinite Being…Creation is at the
opposite pole than the Creator, since the Creator gives existence, while
creation accepts it. Therefore before creation could be brought into
existence, (or for creation to be brought into existence) the concept of
differentiation had to be brought into being."
(Kaplan, Bahir, p. 97)
"The mastery of the Creator is demonstrated in setting in order and fixing
boundaries between the newly created light and the old darkness. Both are
henceforth to rule the world, both to have their uses for the world. Light
to awaken everything to individual life and growth, darkness to give
opportunity for forces to penetrate and work internally by relaxing from
stimulation. Light is not to work unceasingly, both light and darkness
receive their kingdoms…It is God, the same God Who called 'light' into the
darkness, Who intervened, with His Almighty Power of arranging and limiting,
between these two greatest and most important contrasts which were
henceforth to rule the world." (Hirsch, p. 9)
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BEIN…OO'BEIN…Discernment, so necessary for creation and existence.
As Avraham said to his cousin Lot: "Let there not be strife, I pray you,
Beinee oo Veincha: between me and you.". (Genesis 13:8)
Each thing has its place.
"On reaching full maturity the human spirit aspires to rise above all
conflict and opposition. It will recognize all expressions of the spiritual
life as an organic whole, in which differences in states will not be erased,
in which there will remain a distinction between the primary and the
peripheral…But this will not be in a grievous form that inspires discord and
hostility. It will be in a form similar to the divisions of organs in the
body, and to the distinctive impulses in the fully developed spiritual life,
each of which recognizes its place as well as that of its neighbor." Rav
Kook in an essay Fragments of Light (Translated by Boktzer, p. 311-312)
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And so we complete verse 4:
"VA'YAHR ELOHIM ET HA'AUR KEE TOV VEYAVDEL ELOHIM BEIN HA'AUR OO'BEIN HA'
CHOSECH"
May we be able to reflect and see the light, know that it is good
and discerningly place everything in its place.
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