B"H

Inner Dimension Weekly Torah Message
for the weekly Torah portion of "Ki Tisah"

65#18

Introduction to the Study of Kabbalah (part 3)

Spreading the Wisdom

The Arizal explains that as we approach the Messianic era it becomes critical that the study of Kabbalah be taught. In his words: “it is a mitzvah [a commandment] to reveal this wisdom now” (mitzvah legalot zot hachochmah). This is based on the statement of the Zohar that “with this book [i.e., the Zohar], we will come out of their exile with mercy” (Zohar III:124b). Meaning, that the study of the inner dimension of the Torah, as revealed in the Zohar, has the power to prevent the difficult traumatic events otherwise required for us to make the transition from our present state of consciousness to the consciousness of the Messianic era.

Even though the Arizal was the first to say that the time has come for Kabbalah to be taught openly, nonetheless, there are still conditions placed upon those who desire to study the esoteric dimension of the Torah. On the part of the teacher it is indeed a mitzvah to reveal the hidden teachings, but only to those who are already worthy to integrate them into their lives. The description of what is required of an appropriate student is even outlined in the introduction to Eitz Chayim, The Tree of Life, the most basic text of the Arizal’s Kabbalah.

The Fifth Stage of Kabbalah: Chassidut

More than a century and a half after the Arizal’s statement that the time has come for Kabbalah to be revealed, the Ba’al Shem Tov (1698-1760) founded the Chassidic movement. As explained in length by one of the greatest Chassidic scholars, Rabbi Isaac of Homil (who was a disciple of Rabbi Shneur Zalman of Liadi, the founder of the Chabad branch of Chassidut, his son, Rabbi Dov Ber, and his grandson, the Tzemach Tzedek), the Ba’al Shem Tov’s teachings in particular and Chassidut in general are a final tier of Kabbalah. They are a unique revelation of the Divine wisdom of Kabbalah in the sense that they form a new corpus of teachings that as a whole provide a deeper insight and a more advanced conceptual scheme than ever revealed before with which to understand and internalize the teachings of the Zohar and the Arizal. Chassidut is thus the fifth stage of the revelation of Kabbalah.

But, the Ba’al Shem Tov’s Kabbalah is not different only in its breadth of explanation; it is also wider in its scope. Whereas the Arizal still imposed limitations on who is worthy to study Kabbalah, the Ba’al Shem Tov advocated a radically new approach. The Ba’al Shem Tov experienced an elevation of his soul to the dwelling place of the Mashiach in heaven, where the Mashiach revealed to him, that the redemption would occur once his [the Ba’al Shem Tov’s] wellsprings of teaching would spread forth to the most remote extremes (yafutzu ma’ayanotecha chutza). Subsequently, the Ba’al Shem Tov explained that the “most remote extremes” specifically refers to those Jews who until now could not have been considered sanctified enough to study Kabbalah. Obviously, spreading the wellsprings of Kabbalah to these extremes means specifically addressing every single Jew, regardless of level of observance or commitment to the Torah. Not only that, but even non-Jews, who also require the wisdom of Kabbalah in order to participate in the redemption in a compassionate and merciful manner, should also be addressed and taught those parts of the wisdom that pertain to them. This implies there really are no longer any conditions placed on the study of Kabbalah. Since all souls require this wisdom to rectify themselves, there is also no difference between genders. Until the coming of the Mashiach it is our task to do all in our power to spread the wellsprings of Chassidut, the fifth level of Kabbalah.

Revealing the Concealed

It is important to mention that whenever we speak of “new teachings” we of course mean not that some new Torah has been given from God through someone, but rather that some righteous individual has merited revealing hidden parts of the Torah that were always present but remained concealed until that point in time (for reasons known only to God, in His providence to bring creation and history to the utopian state for which the world was created). Those unique souls sent from Heaven at certain critical moments in history to reveal new dimensions of the Torah will of course never contradict or nullify any of the Torah's laws or teachings that had been revealed until that point in time.

Rabbi Shneur Zalman, the found of Chabad, stated that “there will not be a second giving of the Torah,” meaning that all new teachings must always truly be founded on the Torah as it has been transmitted and developed from generation to generation. The Torah that was given by G-d at Mt. Sinai already contains all the new teachings and understandings of all the generations up to and including even the deepest revelations that will be taught by the Mashiach. In fact, the prophets clearly stated that just before the final revelations of the Torah by the Mashiach, prophecy will return to the Jewish people. The purpose of this prophecy is, again, not to reveal a “new” Torah, but rather to prepare the soul so that it can integrate the depth of the revelation of the Torah’s hidden teachings as they will be revealed by the Mashiach.

The Gematria of the Week

This week we begin a new section in our email dedicated to new gematriot taught by Rabbi Ginsburgh.

This year the Jewish calendar has 13 months instead of the usual 12 and therefore it is known as a “pregnant year.” It is as if the year is pregnant and carrying an additional month in its belly. Thus, the additional month, called Adar I, which is actually the 12th month (not the 13th as one might think), is called the “month of pregnancy” (chodesh ha’ibur). The 13th month is then called Adar II.

This week marked the dates of the 14th and 15th of Adar I, or Purim (and Shushan Purim) katan, literally, Purim minor. Being minor, Purim katan is not celebrated with the physical commandments performed on Purim proper, but it is nonetheless an occasion of joy and preparation for the transformation possible during every day of the two months of Adar. This transformation can affect both our inner being and our external environs and circumstances.

The occasion of Purim katan brings us to contemplate the reason that the Jewish people required such a great miracle as the one that occurred on Purim, in the first place. The story of Esther and Mordechai occurs during the Persian exile, which was actually a continuation of the Babylonian exile. According to the sages, the reason that we were punished so terribly with the Babylonian exile was because men were engaged in improper relationships with foreign, non-Jewish, women. This desecration of the holy physical being of the Jewish people was then further augmented when the Jews of Shushan ate from the non-kosher food served at King Achashverosh’s feasts described at the beginning of the Book of Esther.

Our first gematria (numerical equivalence) for this week is:

This literally says that the value of “foreign women” (1086) is equal to that of the names of our four matriarchs: “Sarah, Rivkah, Rachel, Leah.” This reveals a major point about gematria equivalence. At times, the equivalence denotes that the two sides of the equality are like arch-enemies or arch-rivals. The positive and holy side of the equality is responsible and has the power to rectify the negative side. In this case, the strict identification with and retention of Jewish identity, which progresses down the ages from our four holy matriarchs through all of their daughters, the women of the Jewish people, has the power to rectify the profanity present in the body and incurred from improper physical actions.

Purim is deeply related to Chanukah in many ways. During Chanukah we celebrate the victory of the Jewish minority over the major Hellenic influences that controlled Jewish society in the Land of Israel at the time. The miracles of Chanukah occurred during the time of the Second Temple . The Hellenic influence over the Jewish people at the time was predominantly due to the introduction of “external wisdoms,” i.e., philosophy, aesthetics, etc., which fought with the Torah’s wisdom in an attempt to take over the people. Ultimately, the Maccabee’s were victorious because they shunned this foreign influence by strengthening the study of the Torah. Here is our second gematria for this week:

This gematria literally says that the value of “external wisdoms” (1044) and the names of the five daughters of Tzlofchad, “Machlah, Noah, Choglah, Milkah, and Tirtzah” (see Numbers 26:33) are equal. As related in the Torah, the five daughters of Tzlofchad, having no brothers, were adamant and insistent in their request to be given the right to inherit their father's portion of land in the Land of Israel . The sages teach us that these five women were especially wise. They possessed and manifested the true, naturlly engrained wisdom present in every Jewish soul. In the Tanya we are taught that the super-rational power of the Jewish soul to overcome the temptations inherent in external wisdoms lies within the inner essence of the Divine point of wisdom in every Jewish soul, the wisdom that knows, innately, that Israel, the Torah, and God are essentially one, and that the land of Israel was given as an eternal inheritance to the Jewish people. The Jewish "woman of valor" is especially conscious of this fact, and by fighing for her rights to the Holyland she overcomes the influences of foreign, external wisdoms that attempt to blur the distinction between the sacred and the profane. What we learn from this gematria is that in order to inherit the Land of Israel it is required that we identify with the five daughters of Tzlofchad and thereby free ourselves of the confusing influence of wisdom whose source is other than the Torah. And that the willingness to truly demand the Land of Israel frees us from the confusing influence of external, non-Jewish, wisdoms.

Now on our website

The Mysteries of Femininity

-- The Inner Meaning of Challah --

The next lecures in this new series will be given by Rabbi Yitzchak Ginsburgh at Kever Rochel on

Thursday, the 29th of Adar I,

Erev Rosh Chodesh Adar II (10th of March)

at 10:30am

These lectures are delivered once a month at the beginning of the new Jewish moon and specifically address women's issues and femininity from a Kabbalistic and Chassidic perspective

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