|
Welcome
to Inner Dimension Audio Audio-Aid Summaries, Charts, Translations and aids for recorded lectures by Rabbi Ginsburgh |
|
|||||||
|
The Land of the Supernal Crown The Weekly Torah Portion of: Ekev The
ultimate mission of the People of Israel is to reveal that all is God and
God is all. The place from which this mission is to be accomplished is the
Land of Israel, where God's purpose in creating the world becomes manifest.
In this audio meditation, Rabbi Ginsburgh guides us through the praises of
the Land of Israel, creating a deep understanding of how the Land's physical
qualities are actually a reflection of its essential Divine nature. A
Microcosm of the World's Natural Beauty The
most important image in the Torah portion of Ekev is the description
of Eretz Yisrael ("The Land of Israel"). Eretz Yisrael
is a land of diverse natural phenomena. God concentrated all the beauty of
nature within its borders. When we meditate on the description of the Land
of Israel, we discover that the physical manifestation of the Land's beauty
is but an allusion to its inner, spiritual majesty.
The
Land of Waters The
four verses of praise for the Land of Israel are in Deuteronomy 8: 7-10.
Significantly, the word eretz (land) is repeated in these verses
seven times, corresponding to the seven attributes of the heart. Eretz is mentioned twice in verse 7. First as a general introduction, that God is bringing the Jewish People to a good land. The verse continues that Israel is a land flowing with water; it emanates from streams, fountains, and subterranean depths -- from the valleys and from the mountains.
The
Land Blessed with Fruits Verse 8 describes the 7 species of fruits with which Eretz Yisrael is blessed. Again in this verse the word eretz appears twice: first as a land of the five species of wheat and barley and grapes and figs and pomegranates, and then again as a land of the remaining two species; olive oil and honey (of dates).
The
Land of Iron and Copper In verse 9 eretz is also written twice. The verse opens with a promise that we will lack nothing in the land; it is a land whose stones are iron and from its mountains we will carve out copper.
The
Good Land In the three previous verses, the word for "land" is written as "eretz." In verse 10, the word for "land" appears once -- as ha'aretz -- "the Land." This final mention of the word eretz corresponds to the seventh attribute of the heart, malchut. It summarizes and concludes the descriptions of the Land in the three preceding verses. In this verse, Eretz Yisrael is described as a land of abundance, in which we will eat and be satiated and bless God for the good land that He has given us. The end of this unit of verses, with its reference to the good land, is enwedged in the beginning, in which Eretz Yisrael is described as a good land.
The
Mountain of Supernal Lights The unit of verses describing Eretz Yisrael has 55 words. 55 is the triangle of 10 (the sum of all numbers from 1 to 10). This means that the words of these verses can be written as a triangle, with the apex at the top of the triangle or at its bottom. This triangle has 10 levels, corresponding to the 10 supernal lights (sefirot) with which God created the world. When the apex is at the top of the triangle, the verses create an image of Eretz Yisrael as a mountain of 10 supernal lights. Click here to see a diagram of the triangle. Five
words are written at the beginning of these verses before the first mention
of eretz, followed by another 50 words. The last two words of this
unit are natan ("gave" -- numerical value of 500) and lach ( "to
you" -- numerical value of 50). This is 10 times the form of the entire unit
of words. These last two words, describing the land that God "gave to you"
for an eternal homeland encapsulate the entire form of the text. The
Creation Connection There
are 203 letters in the unit of verses describing the Land of Israel. 203 is
the numerical value of the second word in the Torah, barah "created."
The letters of the word barah; beit,
reish, alef,
are also the first three letters of the first word of the Torah, bereishit.
The fact that this unit has barah (203) letters points us clearly in
the direction of the creation of the world, and particularly to the first
day of creation, where the word barah first appears. In the entire account of the six days of creation, God's Name, Elokim (whose numerical value 86 = tevah -- "nature,") is written 32 times. In Kabbalah we learn that the inner essence of God's Name, Elokim-- which represents nature -- is God's essential Name, Havayah. The relation between Havayah and Elokim is expressed in Psalms (84:12): Havayah Elokim is the sun and its shield God's essential Name, Havayah is likened to the sun while Elokim is referred to as the shield of the sun. The essence of the sun, the infinite lights of God's essential Name, Havayah, are concealed by the shield of nature. Within each of the 32 times that Elokim is written in creation, Havayah (numerical value of 26) is at its inner core. 32 times 26 equals 832, the numerical value of Eretz Yisrael. This is the essence of our meditation and the essence of the Land of Israel. The beauty of nature concentrated in Eretz Yisrael reflects God's purpose for creating the world. The mission of the Jewish People is to unite with the Land of Israel and to reflect God's essential, infinite light concealed within the Land to all creation.
The
Light of the Land of Israel We have seen that the Land of Israel is the physical microcosm of creation and the place where its spiritual purpose is manifest. The seventh word (our Sages teach us that: "all sevens are dear") in the account of creation is the word eretz, reflecting the seven times that the word eretz appears in the description of the Land of Israel. In the third verse of the account of creation, God says, Yehi or -- "Let there be light." The first two letters of eretz; alef, reish, spell the word or, "light." The remaining letter of eretz, tzadik, represents the tzadik, the righteous person, as in the verse in Isaiah (60:21): And
your nation are all righteous persons, Kabbalah explains that the Land of Israel is the secret of the verse in Psalms (97:11): Or
zarua latzadik The first verse of creation ends with the word aretz (same as eretz). The purpose of the light created on the first day of creation is not to remain in the heavens, but to reach earth and to be implanted within it. This is the ultimate and essential light of God, manifest in the Torah. When the Jewish People dwell in Eretz Yisrael according to the laws of the Torah, they are all tzaddikim. They then become one with the Divine light inherent in the land, reflecting it to all creation and fulfilling the purpose for which God created the world.
God
is One The first day of creation is referred to in the Torah as "one day," and not as the "first day." This reflects God's absolute unity. On the first day of creation, there was no plurality. The world's consciousness was purely of the Oneness of God, as God intended when He created the world. When the one nation of Israel enters the Land of Israel we receive the ability to manifest the fact that the multitude of plurality apparent in creation is actually all the One God of Israel. The mission of the Jewish People on earth is to bring the consciousness that all is God and God is all to every created being.
The
Land of the Supernal Crown The
Torah's account of the first day of creation is the preface to the verses
describing the blessing and beauty of Eretz Yisrael in our Torah
portion. There are 197 letters in this account. When this is added to the
203 (barah) letters of the description of the Land of Israel, we
receive 400, 20 squared. 20 represents the super conscious crown,
the manifestation in our world of God's infinite light above and beyond
creation. In Kabbalah we learn that the "light of the crown," or haketer
has the numerical value of 832, exactly the value of Eretz Yisrael. The
union of the first day of creation with the Land of Israel is the consummate
union of the infinite light of the supernal crown as it manifests in
creation, in the holy Land of Israel.
|
|||||||||
Improve
your life
Return to main list
