The Seven Gifts From Produce

Continuing with our analysis of the seven gifts from produce, we have terumah gedolah, the second gift, which is given by the farmer to a Cohen. Terumah gedolah literally means “the great gift,” and in our model corresponds to the realm of loving-kindness that shattered in the World of Chaos. We noted that the first, second and seventh gifts are cited as “reishit,” a beginning, in the Torah. In the Bible we find that this word, “reishit” appears in relation to the sefirah of knowledge, as in the verse: “The beginning of knowledge….”¹ But here, the clear reference of a Cohen is to loving-kindness, for the Cohen is called “the man of loving-kindness.”² In the early Kabbalah (pre-Arizal), loving-kindness was usually called “gedulah,” the noun form of the adjective “gedolah.” Abraham, the Biblical figure most associated with loving-kindness, is described as, “the man who is great [ha’gadol] among giants.”³ He is also called a Cohen: “You are a Cohen forever.”⁴

The Levite, the recipient of the ma’aser rishon, is considered a figure of might in Kabbalah, clearly alluding to ma’aser rishon corresponding to the sefirah of might.

Ma’aser min hama’aser is performed by the Levite giving one tenth of what he received to a Cohen. Because the sefirah of might lies along the left axis of the model of the sefirot, and loving-kindness lies along the right axis, Kabbalistically, this act reveals that the “right-side” (loving-kindness, the Cohen) was present within the “left-side” (might, the Levite). This is the essential nature of the sefirah of beauty that lies along the central axis, which incorporates the (potential right within the) left within the right.

As already noted, ma’aser sheini (literally, “the second tenth”) is the tenth of the original produce that is taken by the farmer to Jerusalem to be eaten there in ritual purity, and in relation to the primordial realms, corresponds to the sefirot of eternity and acknowledgment. Jerusalem is associated with the sefirah of eternity (netzach), as in the sages saying that “eternity is Jerusalem.”⁵ For most people the bringing of the mas’aser sheini to Jerusalem coincided with their performance of the commandment to visit the Holy Temple three times a year on the festivals of Pesach, Shavu’ot and Sukot. The Holy Temple is most often associated with the sefirah of acknowledgment: “and acknowledgment is the Holy Temple.”⁶ In the Torah, the three festivals are called “regalim,” which means “times” or “instances.” But, the grammatical root of this word is the same as that of the word for “foot,” hence the idiom “ascending to the foot” (aliyah laregel) used to describe the journey to Jerusalem for these festivals. The feet are the parts of the human physique that correspond to the sefirot eternity and acknowledgment. That the root of the word “foot” in Hebrew is also the root of words that relate to time gives a deeper understanding for why the feet are associated with eternity, the sefirah most representative of time. As we noted previously, ma’aser sheini has a time element built-into its observance, as it was only given on the first, second, fourth and fifth years of the seven-year Sabbatical cycle.

The produce that was reserved as ma’aser sheini could either itself be brought to Jerusalem , or it could be redeemed for an equivalent sum of money, which was then taken and used to buy food in Jerusalem . That it could be redeemed for money points to the aspect of ma’aser sheini that fits with the sefirah of acknowledgment as everything fiscal (beginning from the study of economics) corresponds to acknowledgment, as explained in length in The Torah Academy.

Complementing ma’aser sheini is ma’aser ani, the tenth given to the poor on the remaining third and sixth years of the Sabbatical cycle. Ma’aser ani rectifies the primordial realm of foundation. In the Zohar, the “poor man” (ani) is a connotation for foundation. One way of understanding this association is by noting that the foundation receives an influx from all the other emotional and habitual sefirot (loving-kindness through acknowledgment) and then transfers everything it has received to kingdom; thus, it shares a certain resemblance with the statement said about kingdom, that it has nothing of its own. In relation to foundation, kingdom is called an “evyon,” which in Hebrew denotes someone who is indeed without anything, even more so than the “poor man” (ani).

Regarding the relationship between challah and kingdom, we have already seen many examples and explanations. But, following our discussion of ma’aser sheini--on the first, second, fourth, and fifth years of the Sabbatical cycle--and ma’aser ani--on the third and sixth years--we can extrapolate that challah spiritually corresponds with the seventh year of the Sabbatical cycle, the Sabbatical year itself. Thus, it is appropriate that when taking challah from dough (especially in honor of the day of Shabbat) we have in mind that in merit of performing this mitzvah we will be able to keep the Sabbatical year. In fact, challah is the only one of the seven gifts from produce that is performed even on the Sabbatical year.

Moreover, challah is taken from the same grain from which all the other produce gifts were given, so it actually contains the energy of all these mitzvot combined, just as kingdom is the receptacle of all the Divine energy that flows down through the other sefirot.⁷

Elevating Worlds

Up to now we have considered challah in relation to the seven gifts from produce and these in relation to the seven primordial realms that shattered in the World of Chaos and correspond with our emotional and behavioral realities. We have seen that challah is the recipient of all the energy involved in the gifts from produce. The question of the place of the intellectual and the super-rational sefirot has not been addressed. What role might they play in relation to challah? To answer this question let us continue our analysis of the gifts from produce as they relate to the different years of the Sabbatical cycle in some more depth.

The seven years of the Sabbatical cycle also correspond to the seven primordial kings. That the fourth and fifth years on which ma’aser sheini is given correspond to the sefirot of eternity and acknowledgment concurs exactly with our placing ma’aser sheini as corresponding to these two sefirot. Likewise, the sixth year on which ma’aser ani is given corresponds to the sefirah of foundation. But, ma’aser sheini is also given on the first and second years, indicating that it has a higher component corresponding with loving-kindness and might, while ma’aser ani has a higher component that corresponds to beauty. This alludes to a direct relationship between ma’aser sheini and the first two sefirot of the emotional realm, loving-kindness and might and between ma’aser ani and the third sefirah, beauty. Indeed, it is explained in Kabbalah and Chassidut that the source of the three behavioral sefirot (eternity, acknowledgment, and foundation) is (in the fully matured individual) in the emotional faculties. In such case, when ma’aser sheini and ma’aser ani populate their higher place in the emotional sefirot, bikurim, terumahgedolah, ma’aser rishon, and ma’aser min hama’aser are “pushed” up and then correspond to the sefirot crown, wisdom, understanding,⁸ and knowledge, respectively. Challah, for its part, then encompasses all four sefirot from eternity through kingdom, and in a sense itself becomes more “mature.” This type of “level jumping” is known in Kabbalah as “elevating worlds.”⁹ It offers an image of what happens when a higher source has input its energy into a system, causing all of its components to replicate themselves on a higher, more mature level.

When challah encompasses the bottom third of the sefirot, it has enough “space,” as it were, to fit the full mature partzuf of Rachel, the energetic image of the Land of Israel and the natural Jewish countenance that the Torah seeks to create in it.¹⁰

 

Notes

1. Proverbs 1:7.

2. Zohar I, 256b; 258b.

3. Based on Joshua 14:15. See Bereishit Rabbah 14:6; Rashiad. loc.

4. Psalms 110:4.

5. Berachot 58a.

6. Ibid. See also in Rabbi Ginsburgh’s upcoming volume, The Art of Education, p. 249.

7. There is a perplexing verse that reads: “Upon entering the land that I am giving you, the land will keep a Shabbat to Havayah” (Leviticus 25:2). In practice, the Sabbatical year can only be kept after the first 6 years of the Sabbatical cycle. So what does it means that “upon entering the land,” the Sabbatical year should be kept?

We noted in the first lecture in this series that the Jewish people were commanded to take challah from their dough immediately upon entering the Land of Israel . Thus, we may say, that by giving challah immediately upon entering the Land of Israel , the generation that conquered the land in the time of Joshua merited to keep the Sabbatical year. What was performed in the first year of entering the land was instrumental in creating the reality of the seventh year.

8. The Cohen is many times called the man of wisdom, while the Levite corresponds to understanding in the profusely discussed verse in Chassidut: “And the Levite shall serve Him” (Numbers 18:23 ).

9. See the introduction to Rabbi Ginsburgh’s The Hebrew Letters, regarding the letter of the Ba’al Shem Tov to his brother-in-law. See also an upcoming audio lecture on our website (www.inner.org) discussing the spiritual work of non-Jews, where this letter is explained in some detail.

10. As explained in length in Rabbi Ginsburgh’s Hebrew volume, Hateva Hayehudi (Jewish Nature).

 

 

 

Lecture 2, part 8

based on the lecture given on eve of Rosh Chodesh Adar II at Rachel's Tomb

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