Departure of Shechinah
Tuesday, July 2, 2013
.jpg)
An Interesting question I received and wanted to share...QUESTION: What does it mean in the Talmud (Shabbat 33a) when it says that the Shechina departed from Israel?
This is a good question but in order to answer I have to get a bit deeper in the text of the Sefer Yetzira as it reflects the Kabbalistic concept of the Shechina's departure. The Shechina itself is a Kabbalistic concept and therefore only the Kabbalah can explain it.
The Sefer Yetzirah states:
These are the Ten Sefirot Belimah:
The Breath of the Living God (1)
Breath from Breath (2)
Water from Breath (3)
Fire from Water (4)
Up (5) down (6) east (7) west (8) north (9) south (10). [SY. 1:14]
And it also states:
Seven Doubles:
Up and Down
East and West
North and South
And the Holy Palace precisely in the center
and it supports them all. [SY. 4:4]
The term 'Holy Palace' (or more correctly: 'Holy Temple') does not refer to one of the ten enumerated sefirot of the Sefer Yetzirah, because as we know, the ten sefirot are comprised of the first four sefirot and the six directional sefirot: "Up and Down, East and West, North and South" (as stated in verse 1:14 quoted above). In other words, the Holy Temple signifies something that is supplementary to the ten sefirot.
Holy Temple = 475
Da'at = 474
The Sefer Yetzirah employs the phrase 'Holy Temple' in reference to the historical Temple of Jerusalem. The destruction of the Holy Temple in the year 70 CE is analogous to the exclusion (or disappearance) of Da'at as a sefirah. Traditionally, the destruction of the Temple is said to have caused a spiritual schism between Israel and the Creator because it meant that the 'Divine Presence' (i.e. the Shechinah) lost Its official dwelling place. Similarly, the exclusion of Da'at as a sefirah severs the link between the microcosm (i.e. lower sefirot) and the macrocosm (i.e. higher sefirot). More specifically, without Da'at to bridge the Abyss, the sefirah Binah (Who represents the Higher Shechinah) is unable to descend into the microcosmic realm and inform the Lower Shechinah (i.e. Malchut).
0 comments: