Parshat Shmini: From the Zohar
Monday, September 15, 2014
1.) "'And it came to pass on the eighth day' (Lev. 9:1). Rabbi Yitzchak opened the discussion by saying: 'When the morning stars sang together and all the sons of Elohim shouted for joy' (Job 38:7). Blessed are Israel because the Holy One, blessed be He, has given them the Holy Torah, the joy of all, the joy of the Holy One, blessed be He, and the place where He walks..., as is written: 'And I was daily His delight' (Prov. 8:30). The whole Torah is one holy Name of the Holy One, blessed be He. By the Torah was the world created, as it is written, 'Then was I by Him as a nursling (amun).' Do not pronounce it (nursling) as 'amun' but as 'uman,' which is literally an artificer, for it was His instrument of art for the creation of the world."
My Comments:
The Zohar teaches us that creation, the world, is founded upon the Holy Torah, and it teaches us that this Holy Torah is composed of black fire engraved upon white fire, or dark radiance within white brilliance. This Holy Torah shines within and before the Holy One of Being at the outset of creation and is called kedumah Torah, “primordial Torah,” for it shines in the Infinite and Eternal, without beginning or end.
As we know and understand, the entire Torah is an unspeakable Name of God, and if the letters are grouped in various ways secret Names of God are revealed – and it is written, “He and His Name are One.”
This Holy Torah is the emanation of the presence and power of the Most High (Elyon), the Shechinah of the Supreme, and is inseparable from the Most High – this Torah is not the sacred writings recorded in books by mortal scribes, though such scriptures are inspired by it and are reflections of it, nor are the Holy Letters of this Torah anything we might conceive or comprehend, though the letters we are given in our sacred language are allegories of these great primordial and supernal powers of the Divine.
The white fire corresponds with Chokmah and the black fire corresponds with Binah, their essence and nature corresponding with Keter – although this Holy Torah is the foundation from which all the Sefirot and Netivot emanate and arise, being “before them,” if such may be said.
The white fire, and its various hues and colors, is called the “Written Torah,” while the black fire, and its hues and colors, movements and forms, is called the “Oral Torah” – the Oral Torah drawing out the meaning and understanding of the Written Torah, revealing the hidden depths of the Written Torah.
Thus the semblance of Torah, the apparent “written” and “oral” Torah we have, comes from the Oral Torah, the Dark Radiance revealing the hidden Attributes of the White Brilliance – everything we have received are emanations of the Oral Torah.
At the outset of creation, in the beginning of this great cosmic cycle, the kedumah Torah emanates the kelulah Torah, the “yet to be unfolded Torah,” corresponding with Chesed and the First Day of creation – this is the emanation of the Wisdom of the Most High that forms the foundation of this great cosmic cycle, containing the entire movement of this creation and all that was, is and shall be in it from beginning to end.
This is the beginning of each and every great cosmic cycle, each and every universe of creation – an issuance comes from the primordial Torah, which is called the “yet to be unfolded Torah,” the unfolding of this emanation of the Holy Torah being the action of creation and all that will transpire in it. Because it is the direct emanation of the kedumah Torah, the kelulah Torah is also composed of black and white fire, dark radiance and white brilliant, though measured by comparison (if such may be said of an emanation that is, itself, infinite, immeasurable).
When Elohim says, “Let there be light” on the first day of creation, the light that shines is the light of this Holy Torah, which is the light of the Mashiach. As the Kabbalah teaches us, “This is the light stored up for the righteous, tzaddikim.”
Now, within any great cosmic cycle, any universe of creation, there are countless realms and worlds, spanning countless dimensions – and wherever there are living spirits and souls, intelligence life evolves, messengers are sent bearing revelations of the Holy Torah. Thus, there are countless torahs revealed, all of which are emanations and reflections of the one Holy Torah– a primordial and cosmic tradition giving rise to each authentic wisdom tradition, every revelation having the same essential Truth and Light within it, though each being individual and unique, a revelation in skillful means, Divine Wisdom, fashioned to resonate with those intended to receive and impart it.
The Torah that we have are emanations and vehicles of this Divine Knowledge and Power.
From any revelation that is given, any Torah we might receive, there is a further emanation, for each soul receiving has its own knowledge, understanding and wisdom of the Torah, in effect they have their own torah given to them by the Divine, the mercy of God (El). Indeed, for each and every soul is a word of God, derived from the wisdom of God, and their foundation, their reality, is the Torah – God’s will or intention in creation.
Awareness of the kedumah and kelulah Torah, and the revelation and raying out in creation of the Torah, is not the product of thought and thinking, or a mental conjuration, but rather it is knowledge of the inmost parts of our soul remembered in our experience of Light Transmission and the unfolding of our self-realization as Mashiach, the dawn of Supernal or Messianic Consciousness.
0 comments: