Editorial notes:
This commentary on the Shema makes reference to the ten sephirot, the underlying spiritual modalities structuring the divine image or “Tree of Life” on which the universe is designed according to the Kabbalah. These sephirotic powers are merely implicit and potential in the highest realm of infinity that is the source of all lower worlds, but are given more and more material form as they are created and repeated in the lower worlds.
There are four of these worlds, Atziluth the immaterial realm of potentiality existing from eternity “before” any worlds are created, Beriah the realm of primal creation and the beginning of space and time, Yetsirah the realm of unfolding natural forces and powers that course through all things and sustain them, and Asiyah the realm of material actions and actualizations. Each world repeats in more diversified and complex forms the inner dynamic of the ten sephirot.
Shai uses a shorthand way of referring to these four worlds, i.e., the Latin numerals I for Atziluth, II for Beriah, III for Yetsirah and IV for Asiyah, and gives Arabic numbers for the ten sephirot in each. So we get 1 and 8 in “I” (aleph and chet, the first and eighth letters of the Hebrew alphabet, in the highest realm of Atziluth), expressed as 1-8I, which plus 4I (daleth is the fourth letter of the alphabet) gives us the Hebrew word Echad, “One.” Letters beyond the tenth letter, yod, apply to lower worlds in a complex reckoning.
In the Kabbalah, these diverse forces express God’s will for the universe. But of course, we are each of us also in the divine image, according to Torah teaching. Israel, the Jewish people per se, strives to generalise this to embrace our whole community and as such to be witnesses for God here below. In this way, we actualize the divine image through blessings and good deeds. Shai uses the personal aspect of the divine image to relate the Shema to his own concept of self and his effectiveness in the world. If he sees himself as embodying the whole of the Jewish people standing before God, it is suggested, he attains to his deeper identity. This can be seen as giving an uplifting meaning to life.
Part 3 gives a beautiful, straight-forward and positive exegesis of the Shema, echoing standard accounts. Yet both Parts 1 and 3 end with unexpected highly negative characterisations of the world actually around us which have not been explained by the prior discussion. Part 4 ignores this, referring to the Shema’s exhortation to love the Lord our God “with all our heart, all our soul and all our might,” treating it again as a probing prescription for the self and for right living.
It is also observed in passing that the Shema implies the further prayers which we have in the Shemoneh Esrei, the Amidah, so it is part of a deeper unfolding of the self. The self-referential aspect of the Shema perhaps reflects Shai’s philosophical reduction of the entire world of experience (discussed in other essays) to modalities of sense perception and conceptual subjectivism, i.e., the dynamics of the self.
Part 5 does not seem to me to be entirely coherent. I do not understand the connection between the various observations.
Part 6, on the other hand, is quite straightforward as another penetrating meditation on the daily prayers, this time on the evening service, from its opening Barechu to the commencement of the Amidah. [EZ*].
*Many thanks to Dr. Evan Zuesse for providing the commentary for this essay.
{Part 1 – 20/12/2016}
Some thoughts I’ve had over the last couple of months on the first verse of Shema.
It should bring me closer to a vista of the Infinite.
It should operate the spiral elevator. Or at least map its current level.
Shema = 9III-4II-7II nb. the 7 is larger in Torah tradition. Commentary defines as an instruction to “think about this well”.
Echad = 1-8I-4I, nb. the 4 is larger in the Torah tradition. Kabbalah explains as alluding to a single reality, 8 heavens, 4 directions. Ramban explains as the daled alluding to Yisaya (?) and that Moshe added this hint to allude to 4 worlds into splitting sea praise.
Yisrael = in Kabbalah it is the middle line of soul in Yetzira, in the Torah, it is the name earned by the defeat of Esav’s angel and later reattached by Infinite. The commentary says it is the branch of our genealogy not partitioned by Yishmael/Esav.
4-name = known as referring to Tiferet, and in hishtalshelut, to the generation of 10 sephirot to create the world (e.g. crown of yud is Keter, final heh is Malchut), also as indicating a sense of Ein-Sof.
6-name = known as referring to Gevura
Shema is an order to contemplate, as shown in the letters where everything is made into a single vision in order to empower the 7II.
7II signifies chesed in bryia which enables not nutriments, but powers and expertise, hence the eye which in the Nach and in Haggadah of Moshe is known to represent microcosm, and this is alluded to in 70 since 70 is the unit in which part can be capable of directing the whole without missing anything. Thus 70 represents the population which could be capable of everything that a larger would. The use of larger letters to hint drash can be studied in Esther regarding the large Taf. Or contrasted with a small letter, e.g. small heh in Bereishit, be-hi-bar-am. Large epitomizes ideal expression of that sephira. And small epitomizes least correct way to use.
Thus, bring everything together in making yourself determined to use your ability to direct yourself
… need next part
Yisrael represents the part of the Jewish people that can overcome all reality, even angels. It contrasts with Yaakov, that directs itself to its expertise and transcendence all for the sake of submitting. It must grab onto the impure to raise itself (ie Esav, cf. Brit ben habetarim). Yisrael is that which intends to spread out its vision into a plurality, in order to use its options to manifest something that brings unity.
70 Bnei-Yisrael went into Egypt, and 600,000 left. 70 is the microcosm. 6 * 100,000 is taught to be the totality absolute. 70 is all that is needed to hold variation. 600,000 is all that is needed to construct reality from their plurality of perspectives. Yisrael is also the part of the Zeir Anpin which is the middle column 10-6-3, whereas Yaakov are the sides, and which are used to rise into Yisrael.
Yisrael is thus: I, in this moment, am the pupil of my people. I represent a microcosm of their plurality. In accepting this message, I accept it qua ENTIRETY of my people, as if I were their container.
Thus Shema: contemplate with all the ability of your variation that is your aspect as a microcosm of reality
which you’ll need to
since you are making a claim as if you are the plurality of the Jewish people.
What’s more,
qua total plurality. You are also representing the facet of Israel that is our ability to overcome everything and to serve the Infinite without intermediate.
And thus:
4 is 6…. That which is EVERYTHING is OUR god (sic) and that is a thing that is gadol.
And some say: That which is our blessing is also our source of struggles.
4 is Echad: Echad is like yom echad (sp?) which indicates a count of one without any precedence for the possibility of more. And also 1!-8I-4I the expression that prisms into a blueprint for a domain into which can expand. I very much admire Ramban’s insight. But I think he hides its construction. I wonder if he sees the 4 worlds in the surrounding text of the prophet’s words. And thus if the split sea is simultaneously in Egypt and across the worlds. And thus bayom ha-hu yi-hi-ye echad ushmo echad which is the manner in which all free-will to choose will become lost at a certain point (esp for 70 nations) insofar as obvious what is desired, and but that is only from their perspective. From our perspective, there was never any choice, only a distinction between what we saw in the world as a choice, and what we saw as the name (i.e. signifiers) for the Infinite.
Thus:
4 is Echad: The Ein-Sof will become recognized as singular and we are witnesses just as we were through the red sea, which is the journey we undertake even now.
7II-4I is made into a single allusion by some = ed = witness = the witness of the microcosm that walked through a doorway to create a new possibility that is the One name.
And all together: I endeavour to focus as if I were the entire unique and unlimited-in-potential Jewish people, and were witness to our awesome relationship with the infinite, that includes witnessing the revelation of its singular recognition.
Briefly, it is interesting that this line from the angels is used. Cf. Kadosh, or Baruch…. mim’komo. The last I would have wondered if preferable because it points to the impossible to see the origin of the name’s honour. Maybe to acknowledge that the name is a blessing for us, no matter how perceived, and that anything that is a name of the Ein Sof is the origin of the expression viz Malchut, viz world that is its unfolding. And thus why Kabbalah teach to tilt head down at this word. As if this is the makom from which the honouring name reveals itself. Which it might. Because I think the worlds form a circle in a terrible sense.
{Part 2 – 20/12/2016}
By thinking about Shema, we can better relate to the brachot:
Bore Meorot.
Ohev amo Yisrael.
Ga’al Yisrael.
{Part 3 – 20/12/2016}
I had thought about some things:
- Ve’ahavta I use the model of ‘Yaakov she’ahavta bo vekarata et shmo Yisrael vi’yishurun’, cf. most people think of Avraham because of the internal facet of Chesed. Thus I define ahav as that which is wanted to be special. Cf. Shir Hashirim.
- Levavcha is known to relate to the 32 chambers of Bina but x2 per two wills of man.
- Ratzon is taught by Rashi in some other place in Tanach ?? to mean ratzon.
- Ratzon also taught to mean bodily-effort.
- Meodecha taught to mean financial effort. The lesson taught that everyone has their bottleneck to overcome.
- Lev in otiyot is that which teaches us how to submit.
- Mitzaveh etchem hayom. There is a tradition to learning the oral law before ma’ariv for this reason. I choose to think about the personal lessons learned that day, since they were given as instructions for derech, which is the whole point of the Torah, i.e. to benefit practically.
- Avoda is taught in at least two places, here and somewhere to do with Talmud Brachot, to mean sacrifice and tefilla.
- Yore u-malkosh. In Mishna re. asking for rain, we understand why rain is like resurrection, and that is because of its sublime non-magic in appearance that is magic. Early and late rain refers to the calculus of receiving bounties from heaven.
- Know the meaning of grain, wine, oil, and grass-for-beasts in fields.
- Ot al yadecha etc. See both pshat, drash (halacha), and remez. The logos of concealment is that which explains, as is taught by…..Mittler Rebbe? Ditto for mezuzot.
- Notice motifs from blessings, eg. Yaakov from Yitzchak, Rivka from family, Yaakov again? Don’t remember.
- The first paragraph is a commitment to love.
- Second is comm to serve with mitzvot.
- The third is comm to recall redemption from Egypt.
- I like to frame the last verse as echoing of the once said, since it is forever true this is accurate.
- Once who is intoxicated and is a shote should treat himself as if keri – see mishna teruma – since cannot be a vessel for gifting achievement or reliability, and since, see re. keri for milchama in Torah, distorts ones ability to generate ideal vectors and thereby become clumsy (if not corrupting) vessel. Under other details, it could be fine, cf. sons of r. gamliel.
- Re be lost, 1I-2I-4I cf Tehilim w. upside-down nuns. The MoA is terrible.
{Part 4 – 11/01/2017}
Bechol levavcha uv-chol nafshecha
- Haftora to Vayechi includes David passing this lesson onto his son Shlomo
- Vayechi explains how the heart is filled, qua YaakOv (with extra vav) (Zohar)
- “Now, we cannot say that, “He is your life” refers to “to love HaShem”, in other words, that the love itself is your life. If that were the case the verse should have read, “For she is your life.” This being the case, why does it say “He is your life?” Certainly, the simple meaning of this verse is understood by all, that the words, “For He is your life” gives us the reason for this love. In other words, why should you love G_d? The reason is because He is your life.” from Kuntras Hitpaalut[I]
- The re-positioning of nefesh cf. letters of Esther (in the same Zohar)
- Nb. verse say oo-vchol not ve–chol
By studying Torah we study its Author, and in studying the Author, we study ourselves, and as much as we are invested in ourselves, so too. And when we allow our emotions to cooperate with ourselves in harmony, the Torah leverages our nefesh just as it is taught in the Zohar. And furthermore re le-ahava et — oo’le’avdo this extends into shmone-esrei, and this is informed by the Kuntras on allowing emotions.
{Part 5 – 14/02/2017}
Regarding daled. Written Monday night of Yitro.
I was thinking of the title An Epistemology for Madness, because a radical, critical sophism was advised as the de facto horizon once a phenomenology presumed the synthetic apriori premise, “This mind does not distinguish between the inter-subjective and not-inter-subjective in appearance”. That premise advises learning to recognise the variety[1] of experiential frames which can… bla, bla.
Drugs are a foreign country…
[I wonder why there are 4 sides to a door.
[The complicated answer…
[A midrash type answer: This world was conceived for the 7th day, just like anything is conceived for its final product. This is like a builder starting to plan his house on the requirement that it have a roof. But despite the primal role this requirement played in the creation of the finished, lived-in home, is not seen at each other part of the house when looking at each one.
One day one, sky and earth. Second, waters here and there. Third, first time the land is a separate thing to water.
The sephirot flow down from infinite like a river that births channels that birth streams and waterfalls. We look up from the land into the wave that moves ever forward, like a moon that is forever changing its shape.
Today is like the third day; old possibilities combine with new possibilities to become the present.
The world was imagined with a single line of chessed – the 7th sephira. Chessed folds into tiferet and now into gevura: this is the day that is lived: it is like the gimmel, the letter of becoming (maturation and weaning); the land of possibilities brings life that grabs for the heavens.
There are not-7, not-6 sides to a door. So 5? There sort-of are 5 sides to a door: in-out. But sort-of, there are only 4 sides. And this is because we are walking through the door. Gimmel is the first letter that we can see, as we look up, that grows and becomes. So there are 4 sides, because we need 4 sides to build passages and their doors, as we move into chessed.
[[Midrash for the same story of a bird that wanted to lead its children to the fruit tree
[[Midrash of mad scientist who wanted to send a message through space using birds – like fireworks being sent into the sky before a wedding
{Part 6 – 1/6/2017}
Working title: Arvit, brachot shema, a bit on 18
E.g.
Barchu et hashem…
If praying with a minyan, then this point establishes the role of the chazzan unto others: It is where they agree to follow his orders, regarding when the “public announcements of progress” shall be made.
Ma’ariv aravim…
It is taught in Talmud Brachot that the sunset is a metaphor for purification, and yet it is also the start of the darkness, which is, however, the points at which heaven and earth are closest.
This is a willingness to accept tomorrow, knowing that tomorrow one will receive a new bveit (also seen in the bet of boker, morning).
Bechachma poteach she’arim…
Chochma is the koach mah, which is like the creative [~intuiting] force of intellect [cf. the synthesising force of intellect, Bina], which is however defined in purely intellectual terms as wisdom.
This is an acknowledgement that a “God” (e.g. Unlimited aleph) can create new possibilities unimagined. And therefore no one knows what new gates will open tomorrow.
Uvitvuna meshane itim…
This is like the overflowing river bank, which becomes the Nile delta, which becomes the ocean, which we cross by witnessing the unfolding of history. Not only do we not know what our own tomorrow’s will bring us, we don’t know what the world’s tomorrow will bring it.
Umesader et hachochavim… kirtzono
We are not the one’s who set our hearts aligned to distant constellations.
This is like poteach et yadecha omasbiya lechol chai ratzon
E.g. We each seek to fulfil our own fate/destiny/heart’s-dream, but here we acknowledge our passive ignorance regarding the “beyond what see” significance of fate.
…Hashem tzevaot shemo
Why does this sentence begin by talking about light and darkness, and then ends by saying that the name of “god” is “Unlimited hordes/armies/faces”?
Because behind all the light-then-dark and dark-then-light’s that fill our life, all the gates opened then closed, then opened in another way, behind all these tomorrow’s which we accept as unknowing gifts, is a true purpose of creation, which is to realize that we are the faces of god.
This is like the question of “what is the shem of moshe, that it was hidden from one of the parashiot?”, since the name is the part that is revealed, and the not-name is the part that is not revealed.
—
Adonai sftai.. tehilatecha
E.g. of meditative stance for saying amida:
The details are being handled by god, but you gotta do the following:
Attend to the production of each word, and reign in the imagination unless intentional (e.g. personal supplicant, but even then…).
Align the emotions with praise-contextualizingness/desireability-requestability/thanks-receptionness of the paragraphs.
—
Epilogue/disclaimer
It is taught in mishna brachot regarding the long and short blessings, and this is like a subject matter which can be studied (e.g. the meaning of tefilot, et al), but which can not be explained. It cannot be said, “this paragraph is for this purpose, x” etc.
[1] Seeking expansion of genre that reveals the “newest appreciated” part of the mind
[I] “This book, authored by the Rabbi Dov Ber of Lubavitch, is popularly known as “The Tract on Ecstasy.” In Chassidic circles, it is famed as the prelude to Shaar HaYichud – The Gate of Unity. It explains the stages of Divine spiritual consciousness that result from Hitbonenut meditation, and also diagnoses many different levels of spiritual illnesses and how to avoid and overcome them. It is a unique and incredible guide to self-knowledge and experiential levels of Divine Meditation”. For further details see http://www.truekabbalah.com/index.php?p=documents and http://www.truekabbalah.com/docs/Kuntras_HaHitpaalut.pdf.
