• Noah
• Flood
• The Ark
• Forty Days and Forty Nights
• The Crow
• An Olive Leaf
• Rainbow
• The Tower of Babel

Noah

“Noah was a righteous man, perfect in his generations” means that quality of bestowal that is now appearing in a person. Noah is righteous, from the right side, Hesed, in relation to that flood, in relation to those egotistical desires.

Flood

On the one hand the flood is water. On the other hand, it is water with the force of Gevura, the power of fire, the destructive egotistical power. It is an incorrect connection between left and right, where the left, the ego, dominates the right.

The Ark

The ark is the quality of Bina, bestowal, Hassadim (mercy). It is a mother who tends to anyone who joins her and is under her influence.

Forty Days and Forty Nights

This period marks the difference between Malchut and Bina. Bina is called “blocked Mem” (final Mem in Hebrew). Mem is forty in Gematria. The ascent from the quality of reception into the quality of bestowal, from Malchut to Bina, means ascending to the degree of forty.

The Crow

The crow is the part of the left that requires correction, compared to the dove, which is from the right. Therefore, when the dove governs instead of the crow, when it returns with an olive leaf, it is clear that the correction has been completed, and the ego is entirely under the domination of bestowal.

An Olive Leaf

The olive is used for many things, such as oil for lamps. Oil itself is one of the foundations of life. It is light of Hochma that can be inside the light of Hassadim, when we have come into a state from which we can keep developing. The development takes place through the light of Hochma, although the correction is done by light of Hassadim. These are always two opposing forces.

Rainbow

The rainbow marks the covenant. If I make a covenant with you, it is not because we enjoy being together, because in that state there is no need to sign anything. Rather, it is a guarantee for tomorrow. We fear that our relationship will deteriorate, or that we anticipate that it will, therefore our fore-signing will force us to maintain good and proper relations.

In Hebrew, a rainbow is called “an arch in the cloud.” The cloud does not symbolize a good situation, but the arch, the connection between us, which is over the cloud, ties us in a way that allows us to continue. We need that covenant, which is an everlasting covenant.

The Tower of Babel

This is the big ego that intensified during the time of Nimrod. The ego is constantly growing—evil waters, waters in Gevurot at the time of Noah, then the tower of Babel, and then the ego comes in the form of Pharaoh, then in the form of the Romans and the Greeks. The ego constantly grows and wears different facades.

Glossary of Terms Used in the VeZot HaBracha (This Is the Blessing) Weekly Torah Portion

• Conclusion, or Conclusion of the Torah
• Blessing
• Tribe
• 120
• Death
• Leader

Conclusion, or Conclusion of the Torah

This refers to the conclusion of the guidance. It is the end of the first corrections in our preparation, during which we acquire the first correction, and after which we enter the land of Israel, where we continue the corrections. At this conclusion we experience the first correction in our 248 organs and 365 tendons, our 613 desires. It is called “bestowing in order to bestow,” or the “degree of the desert.”

Blessing

A blessing is pouring down of upper light on our matter (substance), our lives. It is impossible to execute any correction or anything good in the world unless we go along with the upper light, which is the operator and the doer.

There is a very nice essay in the “Introduction of the Book of Zohar,” called “The Essay of the Letters,” which explains that the Torah must begin with the letter Bet because only in the upper light that comes from the Creator, the degree of Bina, can we make corrections.

Tribe

Just as our bodies consist of different organs such as brain, heart, liver, kidneys, and lungs, the “body of the soul” consists of twelve primary parts, known as Hey–Vav–Yod–Hey (HaVaYaH), in each of which are three lines. Because HaVaYaH consists of four letters, if you multiply it by three lines in each letter, you get twelve parts.

120

120 is 3×40. Each Partzuf (face), each soul, divides into three parts: Rosh (head), Toch (interior), Sof (end). The complete correction in Rosh, Toch, Sof, is forty, which is the degree of Bina. We become corrected through the degree of Bina, through the blessing.

Read the rest of this entry »

Glossary of Terms Used in the Haazinu (Give Ear) Weekly Torah Portion

• A Stiff-Necked People
• Guidance of the Creator
• Punishment
• Mount Nevo
• Gazing Over the Land
• Idol Worship

A Stiff-Necked People

We have Panim (anterior) and Achoraim (posterior) sides. The Achoraim of the degree are the hardest Kelim, the most egotistical desires to receive and to not give. Stiff-necked means great difficulty, it is the biggest desires, the toughest ones, and indeed they are found in Israel and not in others.

Although we see that cruelty exists in everyone, it is far more so in Israel because when we come to these great corrections, we connect and scrutinize the worst Kelim, and we become a stiff-necked people. It is impossible to avoid it.

An ordinary person is not considered stiff-necked. Rather, only those who walk on the path of corrections become stiffer, increasingly discovering the evil inclination, as it is written, He who is greater than his friend, his inclination is greater than him” (Babylonian Talmud, Masechet Sukkah, Chapter 5, 52a).

Guidance of the Creator

The guidance of the Creator means that there is none else besides Him. Along the way we only need to bring the catalyst between our actions and His, the demand that it will happen. Without our demand it will not happen, but in truth, the Creator begins and ends all the situations, and we only ask in between.

It is not just a request. We need to know what we are asking for and how He executes. This is how He knows we come to know the whole system, as well as the Creator.

Punishment

A punishment is the inability to bestow. There is nothing worse than a person being denied doing that, which is similar to the way we consider reception to be the most important thing.

Mount Nevo

This is the place of Bina, Moses’ place, where this force is found until it achieves complete redemption, and then it appears.

Gazing Over the Land

This is the correction of seeing, called “gazing.” Histaklut (looking) of Eynaim in the AHP is what Moses does; it is how he performs corrections over the land of Israel, so the people of Israel can enter the land of Israel with his blessing, his force, and can continue the corrections. Joshua is already going by the force of Moses and leads them.

Idol Worship

When a person turns to oneself or to any other force in the world but the one, giving force, which is hidden between us and must be revealed, it is idol worship. We must turn to it and ask it to be revealed, and this will comprise the corrections.

Glossary of Terms Used in the Nitzavim-VaYelech (Standing-Moses Went) Weekly Torah Portion

• The Giving of the Torah
• Other Gods
• When does one become free?
• Confidence
• Repentance

The Giving of the Torah

The force around us, which we can draw, is called the “light” that reforms our evil inclination. If we want it, it is ready and we can use it.

Other Gods

God is the governor of man. A person serves other gods when one serves one’s own ego. Such a person keeps what he or she says without even thinking about it. We are such loyal servants that we do not even think that we have a master, who is another god, telling us from within what we should do.

When does one become free?

When one decides, “I do not want to do what is coming from within, following all kinds of traits, reactions, and impulses.” First one needs to test the verse, “Therefore choose life.” Is it truly for eternal, spiritual life? If it is, a person follows it. If not, then he does not. This is one’s point of independence.

Read the rest of this entry »

Glossary of Terms Used in the Ki Tavo (When You Come) Weekly Torah Portion

• First Fruit
• Tithingt
• Altar
• Blessing
• What Is, “With God’s Help”?
• Choice
• I will bring you out, I will deliver you, I will redeem you, I will take you

First Fruit

When the will to receive grows, we bring it to correction, to scrutiny. That desire is called “first fruit.”

Tithing

The tenth part, ten percent, which cannot be corrected. Malchut is the tenth Sefira in the structure of our soul. She cannot be corrected because it is the will to receive itself. She must instead be mingled with the first nine, the first nine qualities of bestowal, and this is how she becomes corrected.

Because it is impossible to correct the will to receive itself, we give a tithing instead. We simply do not work with the part that cannot be corrected. Rather, we hand it over to bestowal so it will be corrected by itself. Afterward, at the end of correction, it will be corrected.

Altar

An altar is the place where correction is made, the contact with the upper light.

Blessing

A blessing is the force that a person receives from above in order to perform acts of bestowal toward others. This force comes after one prepares for it, when one truly wants to perform acts of bestowal above, from whatever one will have. When that happens an upper force comes to that person, and this is called “receiving a blessing.” A blessing is the Ohr Hozer (Reflected Light) that the individual activates, a force from above.

Blessing vs. a curse: a curse, in its simple form, indicates that a person is not asking, and is also not receiving the upper force. On the other hand, a blessing is reception of power from above in order to perform an act with the aim to bestow upon others, in which a person discovers that he or she is similar to the Creator and feels as such.

Read the rest of this entry »