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Noach: Daily Insight #1
Creation and its affirmation
Parshat Bereisheet ended with God’s utter repugnance
from creation. Mankind was the crown of all of creation and
because of its abominable behavior God felt remorse at having
created the world. Therefore, God decided to wipe away reality
with a deluge, while saving a single righteous individual,
Noah, and his family. The rest of the parshah relates
how from Noah’s offspring and the animals that were saved with
him in the ark, the world was repopulated. It also introduces
us to the first covenant made between the Almighty and mankind,
the covenant made with Noah (also known as the Noahide Covenant),
reinstituting the relationship between God and creation and
reaffirming God’s commitment to sustaining the universe. Thus,
where the theme of the first parshah of the Torah,
Bereisheet, was of course the creation of the world, Chassidic
teachings focus on God’s reaffirmation of creation as the main
theme of the second parshah, Noach. In this article
we will look at these two themes and see how they are joined
together in the Torah.
From wisdom to crown
In Kabbalistic terminology, the creation of the world is an
expression of the sefirah of wisdom. Wisdom is likened
to contraction: the ad infinitum concentration of something
until it disappears from sight. The Arizal taught that in order
to create the world God had to first contract His Presence
as it were, and to make it appear as if He is not present.
The reaffirmation of creation and the covenant found in parshat Noach
are an expression of the sefirah of crown. According
to the Torah, the most important aspect of teshuvah—the
process of cleansing oneself from one’s negative deeds and
redefining one’s identity—is immediately discontinuing one’s
negative actions. As explained, in order to create the world,
God had to employ the sefirah of wisdom and conceal
Himself. After ten generations that angered the Almighty, the
deluge was the result of God unveiling His full Presence, thereby
leaving no room for creation and causing it to be destroyed.
Yet, even then, God did not completely destroy creation. That
is, He did not unveil Himself so totally as to leave no room
at all for a future. Even then, He resolved to in the future
never cloak Himself so completely that there would be no limits
to abomination that could again destroy the world. He was also
immediately willing to take pleasure from the sacrifices made
by Noah and strike an eternal covenant with him and his offspring.
This is the essence of patience, the inner quality of the sefirah of
crown. To continue to give legitimacy to and to reaffirm His
handiwork even as it fell into the abyss of abomination, God
called upon His aspect of infinite patience.1
Thus, the moral of parshat Noach for us is that once
we have succeeded in creating something, we should not destroy
it because of its problems and negative aspects, but instead
always find the patience to find ways to reaffirm it and fix
it.
Mathematical reaffirmation
Now, clearly, the central verse illustrating the theme of
creation in Bereisheet is: “In the beginning, God created the
heavens and the earth.”2 The
verse illustrating the theme of the reaffirmation of creation
in Noach is: “So long as the earth exists, seedtime and harvest,
cold and heat, summer and winter, and day and night shall not
cease.”3
Let us write these verses in Hebrew:
בְּרֵאשִׁית בָּרָא אֱ־לֹהִים אֵת הַשָּׁמַיִם וְאֵת הָאָרֶץ
עֹד כָּל יְמֵי הָאָרֶץ זֶרַע וְקָצִיר וְקֹר וָחֹם וְקַיִץ וָחֹרֶף
וְיוֹם וָלַיְלָה לֹא יִשְׁבֹּתוּ
The gematria of these two verses combined is 5616
= 26 · 216, or יהוה · גבורה ,
but גבורה (216)
= 63, alluding to the six days of creation.
5616 is also the product of 156 and 62, or קיום (meaning
“reaffirmation”) times 62, where, once more, 6 alludes to the
6 days of creation. Hence, the numerical sum of both verses
together can be understood as “the reaffirmation of the 6 days!”
The word for “reaffirmation,” קיום = י־הוה ·
6, representing in mathematical form the reaffirmed connection
between God and his handiwork of the 6 days of creation.
The manner in which the second verse reaffirms the content
of the first verse can also be seen as follows: the value of
the first verse alone is 2701 = r73, read as “the triangle
of 73,” meaning the sum of integers from 1 to 73. But, 73 is
the gematria of חכמה ,
meaning “wisdom,” as noted above. Beautifully, the second verse
begins with the word עד ,
meaning “as long as,” whose numerical value is 74, one more
than 73, as the second verse begins, as it were, where the
first verse left off by reaffirming creation.
Note that the first verse contains 7 words and the second verse
14 (= 7 ┴ 7) words. Thus we have three units with 7 words in
each. The first, middle, and last word in the first unit are: בראשית
את הארץ .
The first, middle, and last word in the second unit are: עד
הארץ וקר .
The first, middle, and last word in the third unit are: וחם
ויום ישבתו .
The sum of all 9 words is: 3120 = 20 · 156, or 20 · קיום ,
meaning that there sum is a product of “reaffirmation!”
Inspiration: the instrument of reaffirmation
We explained above that the power to reaffirm creation, to
have patience to allow it to persist comes from the sefirah of
crown, God’s attribute of mercy. The sefirah of crown
is so named because like the crown on the head of a king, this sefirah continually
hovers, as it were, above all the others. The sefirah of
crown is also considered the source of all inspiration and
all creativity. We have learnt then that creativity requires
patience, which is actually the ability to tune-in to the Infinity
of the Almighty that is always hovering above and patiently
sustaining reality.
Chassidut explains that there are three types of process-relationships
that govern all interactions in reality. They are called: evolution,4 enclothement,
and inspiration.5 Elsewhere,6 we
have used “omnipresence” in place of “inspiration.” Here we
use “inspiration” because of the mathematical discussion that
follows; later we will use the two terms interchangeably. Most
interactions in the physical world described as cause-effect
relationships are of the evolutionary type. Electricity making
a light bulb shine and the soul animating the body are examples
of enclothement relationships.7 An
example of an inspirational relationship would be prophecy.
The patience of the Almighty to reaffirm creation after the
deluge is also an example of an inspirational relationship.
Without a doubt, it was the Almighty’s special relationship
with Noah himself that inspired him to reveal his omnipresence
after the deluge and reaffirm creation. The Torah describes
this special relationship in the verse: “And Noah found grace
in the eyes of God.”8 This
verse is the last verse of parshat Bereisheet, thus
serving as the natural bridge connecting Bereisheet with Noach.
It is also one of the verses in the Torah for which no translation
can do justice. In Hebrew, the word חן ,
translated here as “grace,” also means “symmetry.” Indeed, חן is
the reverse (the symmetrical) form of נח ,
Noah’s name in Hebrew.9 In
addition, the word “found” is also etymologically related to
the word for “reality.”10 “Finding
grace” in God’s eyes refers to inspiring God to reveal His
omnipresence, which can be understood as a state of symmetry
between reality and God, a state in which it is impossible
to distinguish between the human and the Divine, the mundane
and the heavenly, and the natural and the miraculous.11
Mathematical parallels
There are mathematical parallels to evolution, enclothement,
and inspiration. Triangular numbers (which were defined above)
exhibit evolutionary qualities; square numbers exhibit enclothement
qualities; and, inspirational numbers, which are defined as
the sum of two consecutive squares, exhibit the qualities of
inspiration.
Analyzing the two central verses of Bereisheet and Noach and
the verse describing Noah’s finding favor in the eyes of God
we can see these numbers at work:
בְּרֵאשִׁית בָּרָא אֱ־לֹהִים אֵת הַשָּׁמַיִם וְאֵת הָאָרֶץ
עֹד כָּל יְמֵי הָאָרֶץ זֶרַע וְקָצִיר וְקֹר וָחֹם וְקַיִץ וָחֹרֶף
וְיוֹם וָלַיְלָה לֹא יִשְׁבֹּתוּ
וְנֹחַ מָצָא חֵן בְּעֵינֵי יְ ־הֹוָה
The central verse of Bereisheet contains 7 words and r7 (=28)
letters. So the first verse of the Torah that describes creation
exhibits triangular numbers (above we saw that the value of
the entire verse is r73!), illustrating an evolutionary relationship
between the Creator and the creation.
The central verse of Noach contains 14 (= 7 ┴ 7) words and
49 = 72 letters! Thus, the central verse describing the reaffirmation
of creation exhibits square numbers, indicating an enclothement
relationship between God and creation.
Amazingly, the value of Noah’s verse, ונח
מצא חן בעיני י־הוה ,
is 421, which is an inspirational number, the sum of 142 and
152.
Enclothement in potential
As noted, the first verse of the Torah, the central verse of
all creation, exhibits an evolutionary relationship, as its gematria is
a triangular number, etc. Immediately following the first verse,
the Torah seems to describe that reality fell into a state of
chaos: “And the earth was chaotic and formless and darkness was
over the abyss….” But, this verse ends with the words: “And the
spirit of God hovered over the waters.” The gematria of
these words in Hebrew, ורוח אלהים מרחפת
על פני המים ,
is 1369 = 372. A perfect square indicates a state of enclothement.
But, because of the near destruction of creation during the deluge,
we know that this state was not permanent. Yet, the enclothement
state of reaffirmation found in parshat Noach, does
echo this earlier state of enclothement in potential found in
Bereisheet.
1. ארך
אפים ,
in Hebrew, which literally means “long nosed,” the secret
of the Jewish face as explained elsewhere.
4. Though
the theory of evolution is indeed based on some concepts
related to what is meant by evolution in Chassidic thought,
they should not to be confused with one another.
5. In Hebrew,
they are called: השתלשלות, התלבשות, השראה ,
respectively.
6. What
You Need to Know About Kabbalah, pp. 9-11.
7. Science
does not yet fully appreciate the difference between enclothement
and evolutionary process-relationships, which is why attempts
to explain phenomena like electricity using particle-based
evolutionary (cause-effect) models does not do them justice.
Likewise, attempts to comprehend the true nature and meaning
of modern physical theories such as relativity and quantum
mechanics using an evolutionary (cause-effect) conceptual
scheme seem to run into hopeless paradoxes. This is also
the reason why science prefers to ignore the soul and spiritual
reality, both of which function by enclothement and inspiration-based
laws.
9. Symmetry
is considered by scientists as one of the most important
principles guiding modern physics and helping us to understand
how the universe functions (and is sustained).
11. The
second Biblical figure who exhibited this state of “finding
grace,” and symmetry was Joseph. When Joseph was incarcerated
for many years in Egypt, the Torah relates that God was
with him in all his actions. Thus, he was appointed the
head of the prison and “everything that was done there,
it was he that did it” (Genesis 22:39). But, another reading
of this verse is, “everything that was done there, it was
He [God] that did it”; meaning, that the state of symmetry
attained by Joseph, affected all actions performed around
him making them feel as if they had been performed by the
Almighty Himself. Indeed, mathematically, יקום = יוסף ,
“reaffirmation” equals “Joseph!”
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