|
Welcome
to Inner Dimension Audio Audio-Aid Summaries, Charts, Translations and aids for recorded lecture tapes by Rabbi Ginsburgh |
|
|||||||
|
The
following is a summary of an audio lecture Do Our
Hearts Have Room for God? Desecration
and Sanctification The central theme in the Torah portion of Emor reaches its climax at the end of the third section of the portion:
A
pair of separate yet complementary commandments is enumerated in this verse.
The first, negative commandment is not to desecrate God's Name. The second,
positive commandment is to sanctify God's Name.
The
Negative Vacuum The
Hebrew word used in the verse for "you shall not desecrate" is t'challel.
Literally, challal means "a state of vacuum." A vacuum is a lack
in any area of existence. (The same word is also used for "corpse," who
lacks a soul). A desecration of God's Name occurs when it seems that God is
absent from a particular reality. On a straightforward level, Maimonides
explains that any time that a Jew, particularly a highly regarded Jew,
behaves in an apparently negative manner, he has desecrated God's Name. With
our understanding of the meaning of the word challel, we see that
when he behaves in this negative manner, he projects that God is not present
in reality.
Sanctification:
Consciousness of God The
complementary commandment to the prohibition against desecrating God's Name
is the directive to sanctify God's Name. As desecration is the projection of
an apparent absence of God, it follows that sanctification of God's Name is
to bring the consciousness of God to every facet of reality. The Hebrew word
for "sanctify" is kodesh. The literal meaning of kodesh is "transcendent"
or "separate." When a person reflects his Godly, rectified character traits
as intensely as possible in all that he does, he brings God's transcendence
into our immanent reality. In this way, he sanctifies God's Name.
The
Revelation of the Divine Soul of Israel In
its ultimate manifestation, the directive to sanctify God's Name is the most
intense of all the commandments of the Torah. According to Jewish law, there
are three commandments that a Jew must not transgress even under the threat
of death: idol worship, adultery and murder. If a Jew is being coerced to
transgress any of these commandments, or if he is being publicly coerced to
transgress any commandment (this applies when there is an external decree
prohibiting the fulfillment of any commandment) he must choose to die rather
than transgress. Paradoxically,
though, the verb for "sanctify" in our verse is written in passive form ("I
shall be sanctified.") Of all 248 positive commandments, all of which are
active in some way, only this commandment appears in passive form. When
a person is faced with a life threatening moral dilemma, and he chooses to
die, he demonstrates the ultimate intensity of self-sacrifice.
Simultaneously, though, he is negating his ego. The place that his ego
occupied in his heart is now vacant and open to God's transcendence. His
willingness to die reveals that God is fully present in our reality. This
explains the passive form of the verb "to sanctify." When a person totally
negates his ego, his heart is open for the spontaneous and natural flow of
Divine consciousness. Whether in life or in death, he has revealed that only
God exists. He has brought God's transcendent omnipresence into the world.
More than any other commandment, this is the revelation of the Divine soul
of Israel. God's
Name The
prophet Zecharia foresees the future when "God will Be one and His Name will
be one." Just as the name of a person reflects his presence in reality, so
the Name of God is the conscious awareness of Him in our reality. When
Zecharia promises that God will Be one, he is referring to God's role in
actively revealing Himself to the world. "His Name will be one" refers to
the role of the world, which
will actively seek consciousness of God in every facet of existence, both
psychological and physical. The
Story of the Curser The theme of desecration of God's Name appears again at the end of the portion of Emor. The Torah relates the story of the man who cursed God while the Jewish People were in the desert. This man was the son of Shlomit bat Divri. As her name reflects, Shlomit bat Divri (literally, "Peace, the daughter of Speech") had the unworthy inclination to speak to everyone who passed her home, speaking "hello, peace" (shalom) to both Jews and Egyptians alike. This immodest habit made her vulnerable to evil input. She was eventually raped by an Egyptian who masqueraded as her husband, and gave birth to a son who cursed God in anger at not receiving a parcel of land with the rest of his tribe. (After raping Shlomit bat Divri, the Egyptian attempted to murder her husband. Moses, who with his holy spirit perceived what had happened, killed the Egyptian, thus saving the life of the husband. This was the first time Moses acted as the redeemer of Israel. He was subsequently sentenced to death by Pharaoh for this act, and had to flee Egypt.
The Connection Between Curse and Desecration The
Hebrew root for "curse" is kallel (spelled: kuf,
lamed, lamed). The Hebrew root
for "desecration" is challel (spelled: chet,
lamed, lamed). These two words are obviously related. Both words end
with a double lamed, while the letters that differentiate them are kuf
(in kallel) and chet (in challel). According to the transformation system known as Albam,
the letters kuf and chet are interchangeable. The
rectification of the curser (mekallel) in the desert was to become a corpse
(challal).
The
Positive Corpse The two identical letters in kallel and challel are the lameds. In Kabbalah we learn that the double lamed is the secret of the heart. King David writes (Psalms 109:22):
King
David had killed his evil inclination, leaving a "positive corpse." In place
of his evil inclination, he had created a vacuum in his heart, leaving it
wide open for God's transcendence to enter. In the Torah portion of Emor,
both challal and kallel are negative. Both are states of the
heart. Challal is the vacuum of God in the heart, while the curse, kallel,
stems from that very vacuum. Thus we see that vacuum and curse are
interdependent. By
working on the character traits of his heart with intensity, King David
rectified the negative challal, transforming it to a receptacle of
God's transcendence, a sanctification of His Name. A
New Manifestation The
antonym of challal, "sanctification," is kodesh (spelled: kuf,
dalet, shin).
As we have learned, the letters kuf and chet are
interchangeable. If we substitute the letter chet for the kuf
in kodesh, we receive a new word, chadesh, which means "new".
(Chodesh also means "month," alluding to the "new moon.") The Torah
commands us to sanctify the new moon. The famous Biblical commentator, Rashi,
explains that God demonstrated to Moses exactly how the new moon looks in
the sky, saying, "When you see this, sanctify it." Newness
is novel. When we see a totally new phenomenon, we must sanctify it. The
most novel phenomenon in our world is when transcendence or something
removed from our routine milieu of natural phenomena becomes intensely
revealed in our consciousness. This is the secret of "I shall become
sanctified." When a person is willing to give up his life for God, his ego
has vanished. This creates a totally new manifestation, never revealed
before in the world. God's absolute transcendence, kodesh, is newly (chadash)
revealed, becoming omnipresent and immanent. Thus we see that sanctity and
newness are interdependent. The
Perceptions of the Heart and the Mind While
challal and kallal are states of the heart, kodesh and chadash
are states of mind. They are the pure perception of the inner eye of the
mind, as in God's instruction to Moses, "When you see this (new moon),
sanctify it. The difference between the mind and the heart is the difference
between pure perception and the emotive response to what is perceived. All
pure perception (sight, sound, etc.) are mental faculties. Kodesh and
chodesh originate in the inner essence of the perception of the mind.
Challal and kallel originate in the heart, and have to be
transformed to the "positive corpse" of King David. The
Positive "Curse" In
Ezekiel 1:7 kallal means shining brilliance. The positive vacuum of
the heart (challal) creates space for the new (chadash)
manifestation of God's transcendent omnipresence (kodesh). This
produces the shining emotive experience of the heart (kallal). The
rectification for us to concentrate on this week is to nullify our ego to
allow God's transcendence to enter our hearts. Transcendence is always new,
transforming the negativity of desecration and curse to rectified emotions
of the heart, which will shine brightly and sanctify God's Name in all our
reality.
|
|||||||||
Improve
your life
Return to main list
