Kabbalistic Meditation & Zohar Reading

we remember that the universe is just a mirror when we look in the mirror and we get angry then we will receive anger because we are sending out anger when we get look in the mirror and we send out love thinking the universe as a big mirror then we will receive love and it's very important that we keep this before us always because love is the only answer love is the way of the torah love is the path to the creator and the path to all the blessings and miracles in our lives so i invite you just to sing with me to chant with me i want to use this permutation of the divine name which is a rather lofty one um the word is havayah and it's another way to pronounce the divine name [Music] sleeping [Music] [Music] i [Music] [Music] [Laughter] i ah [Music] ah [Music] is a pronunciation of the tetragrammaton of the divine name one that we can say without causing a short circuit in our lives and in our energy as we know the divine name could be said by the priest when entering into the holy of holies only on yom kippur and so we don't know the pronunciation of that name and normally we say adonai but is a little higher it's a little loftier and when we transform and continue to chant this name we can change it with the word ahava which means love so just join me if you want to just listen that's fine as well but allow yourself to just focus on the interchange of havaya and ahava which is love adonai which is light adonai which illuminates all the darkness ah [Music] ah ah [Music] ah [Music] ah of all steady yourself living takes time each moment is a moment to be lived each emotion is to be felt we are here in this world to learn and to grow fear can teach confusion instructs sadness informs love elevates elevates us all to god's light take the time to experience each breath especially the ones that make you want to run patience steady rush and race banish joy and peace there is wonder to experience if you just simply take the time step softly and deliberately what lingers must be lived and once lived completely passes in its own time to force the natural rhythms of life is to deny yourself of the divine wisdom in each experience health sickness happiness sadness darkness and light all have their place in our journey adonai we give you thanks for the gift of life wonder beyond words for the awareness of soul our light within for the world around us so filled with beauty for the richness of the earth which day by day sustains us for these and all more all the more we offer thanks unto you your unspoken name is holy your unnamed essence is shalom your radiance is sun pouring down upon our heads coming up close against us moonlight widening our eyes it is ocean around us and vaporizing the journey of right rock it is light in motion your unspoken name is holy your unnamed essence is shalom create a pure heart within each and every one of us let our souls wake up in your light open us to your presence flood us with your holy spirit your shaheena then we will stand and sing out the power of your forgiveness we will teach your love to the lonely the lost will find their way home how do i open up my lips and my mouth will declare your praise shivty [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] ah ah [Music] [Music] [Music] [Applause] a [Music] ah ah [Music] anyone who has caused you pain has caused you discomfort has caused you sorrow bring them into mind just for a moment and now release them with love with ahavah wishing them well blessing them and knowing that there was a reason that they were put in your journey in your path knowing that you are surrounded by your guardians by your angels by the archangels and with the shahina rusting above your head only when we act with love and we bring forth love from deep within our soul and our heart we're then surrounded and protected with divine light nothing can harm us nothing can penetrate that light we breathe out love we receive light light around us light within us light upon us love love [Music] love ah [Music] please join me as we say the anabe koach together [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] foreign i'm in if you'd like to take a deep breath and if you've had your eyes closed open them if you wish we're going to continue now with the reading of the zohar we are using the pritzker edition with commentary by daniel c matt we started the reading of the zohar back in the month of tammuz reading it from cover to cover and so we're still embarrassing of course we had a month long full of holidays and um we're not we weren't able to read it during that time but we're picking back up we picked backups last week actually we started again last week we're on page 100 and 52 and if you were with us last week you remember that we were talking about the kalipot the kernel within with the shells that surround the kernel it started to talk about the first wife of adam and then it started to talk a little bit well we ended with the kernel actually i'll read the last paragraph before we finished it's on page 151 the blessed holy one had to create everything in the world arraying the world all consist of a kernel within with several shells covering the kernel the entire world is like this above and below from the head of the mystery of the primordial point to the end of all wrongs all is this within that that within this so that one is the shell of another which itself is the shell of another so in the commentary both the shells and the kernel play a role in existence the ultimate kernel is the ain't self surrounded as it were by the shells of the sphere oat which clothe and filter the intense light emanating out all is within this within that each layer of existence is simultaneously the kernel of the shell surrounding it and the shell of the kernel within it so um actually describes it in the mishnah as the um that the eight celestial spheres are arranged like the skins of an onion and i think an onion is a great example of if you peel an onion and you peel every shell of the onion eventually you get to the very sweet inner part of the onion that's not that tastes a little bit different than the rest of the onion um and so if you think of the if you think of the kernel and all the shells surrounding it this is the light within each and everything in existence in creation and we ourselves have this same light deep within us we're surrounded so i'm going to continue on page 152. the primordial point is inner radiance there is no way to gauge its translucency tenuty or purity until an expanse expanded from it the expansion of that point became a palace in which the point was clothed a radiance unknowable so intense its lucency this palace a garment for that concealed point is radiance beyond measure yet not as gossamer or translucent as the primordial point hidden and treasured that palace expanded and expands primordial light that expansion of primordial light is a garment for the palace which is a gossamer translucent radiance deeper within from here on this expands into this this is clothed in this so that this is a garment for this and this for this this the kernel this the shell although a garment it becomes the kernel of another layer everything is fashioned the same way below so that a human in this world manifests this image kernel and shell spirit and body all for the arrail of the world and so the world is in his commentary he explains that the human being fashioned in the image of god manifest the structure of colonel and shell when the moon shared a single cleave cleaving with the sun she was radiant as soon as she was separated from the sun and appointed over her forces she diminished herself diminished her light shells upon shells were created for concealing the colonel all arraigned the colonel so let there be me or wrote lights is spelled deficiently all this for arraign the world as is written to shine upon earth in the commentary daniel c matt says when the moon shared when shaheena and tifaret were united she was radiant originally the moon and the sun were equally radiant rabbi shimon son of pozzi pointed out a contradiction it is written god made the two great lights and it is written in the same verse the greater light and the lesser light the moon said before the blessed holy one master of the universe can two kings possibly wear one crown and he answered the moon and said go diminish yourself the shells conceal the kernel of light yet also filter it even the outermost shells the demonic forces serve this function by testing and punishing humanity so that's an interesting concept and i believe i mentioned it i may have mentioned it in the derek hashem study but i seem to remember mentioning it also in our reading of the zohar last week that in kabbalah and in judaism we don't think of demonic forces or the satan as being an enemy of god because everything everything is ainsof ainsof created a space within itself to contain all of creation so we are as i've said several times before we are essentially inside the womb of god if you will the womb of ainsof everything is within not without and next time you go outside and look up into the sky especially in the night sky when the stars are shining and you can see the stars think about that think about god as not being far off from us or a being over there or over here but that we are within god and that is is something the re explained and the zohar explains to us and so if we think of ourselves that way if we think of ourselves as being within this womb of god if you will um this expanse that was created then we can see things a little differently when we go outside when we go um and look up into the sky and we can also see that things that test us um and punishes us are things that help us to grow in our journey that help us to become a better version of ourselves he ends this by saying to shine upon the earth the rail of the kernel within a series of shells actually benefits the world now the light is filtered shining with a bearable intensity a lot of people explain this in modern terms as as a if you think of a power plant if you were to connect your house directly to a power plant your house would burn down because the the energy is too great to just be connected directly to your house rather it has to come down in a series of transformers that transform the energy making it safe to go into your house to power your appliances and to light your lights etc and this is a way of explaining the immense intensity of the light as the zohar is talking about right here we continue on page 153 let me know either on the youtube chat or the facebook chat i am i am able to see um people everywhere and thank you for your messages of shalom and ari says awareness and please feel free to add any comments or questions that you have as i continue reading god made the two great lights this is bereshit chapter 1 verse 16 made enhancement and a rail of all fittingly the two great lights at first in a single bond mystery of the name as one hashem elohim when i say hashem i'm referring to the divine name the good the hey the vav and the hay though not revealed rather in a manner concealed great for they were enhanced in name both alike to be called by the mystery of all meats pots meets pots supernal names of the thirteen qualities of compassion so the two great lights originally t ferret and shaheena symbolized by the sun and the moon were united their union is indicated by the full name hashem elohim in rabbinic literature these two names represent respectively the divine qualities of compassion and justice in kabbalah the two names often designate tifaret and shahina who were originally one and whose reunion represents the goal of spiritual life in a manner concealed they are concealed within the divine thought prior to emanation or concealed by not appearing in this verse in its full form but only as elohim an encoded form of the other half of the name follows so when it says these were enhanced t ferret and shahina return to their source in ketter the mystery on high and draw down a flow of emanation to the worlds so we have to look at ketter as being the and if you're looking at at the screen you can see that ketter is at the very top of the sphere road but the ketter is still very far from the light of ainsof although it's closer obviously than malchut which is the very bottom sphera continuing the reading similarly the two lights both ascending as one in one enhancement the moon was uneasy with the sun ashamed in its presence the moon said where do you pastor your sheep where do you let them rest at noon that's from song of psalms chapter 1 verse 7 how can a little lamp shine at noon lest i be like one and wrapped how can i abide in shame so she diminished herself becoming head of those below as is written go forth in the footsteps of the flock and grace your goats the blessed holy one said to her go diminish yourself from that point on she has light only from the sun whereas at first they dwelt as one evenly later she diminished herself on all her rungs though heading them for a woman is enhanced only together with her husband so we should see ourselves as the moon in fact the nation the jewish nation the people of israel are likened to the moon and so what does the moon do it shines the light of the sun and we are called to shine the light of ain sof the greater light hashem and the smaller light elohim end all wrongs end of thought so t ferret whose name is hashem and shakhina known as elohim as the final sphero she is the culmination of divine thought at first she was inscribed above among the letters of the holy name its fourth letter afterwards she diminished herself to be called by the name elohim nevertheless she ascended in all directions above in the letter hey through the joining of letters of the holy name then runs expanded on the side on this side and that rungs expanding from the higher side are called ruling the day rungs expanding from the lower side are called ruling the night and the stars other forces and camps innumerable all suspended in that expanse of heaven so the commentary says that both t ferret who rules the day in shaheena who rules the night both of them generate angelic forces vitality of the worlds as is written god placed them in the expanse of heaven what that means is that yes od who encompasses the angels he is also known as vitality of the world since he channels the flow of emanation am animating all of existence i'm continuing on page 155 on this day the kingdom of david was established fourth leg in support of the throne so shaheena who is known as malhot is symbolized by the ideal kingdom of david and by the fourth day of creation on which the sun and moon were fashioned she together with the sephir sephardic triad of chesid gevara and t ferret symbolized by abraham isaac and jacob constitute the four legs of the divine throne upon which sits the divine and supernal mother named bena the patriarchs themselves constitute the divine chariot on the relation between david and the patriarchs oh that was i meant that to be a period there sorry so uh continuing uh yet even so until the sixth day when the image of adam was fully arrayed it did not stabilize then the upper throne and the lower throne were established all the worlds settled into place and all the letters were arrayed and their wheels by the expanding scribal matrix matrix of the nexus the fourth day is a day rejected by builders as is said the stone that the builders rejected psalms 118 verse 22 and similarly my mother sons were incensed at me song of psalms chapter 1 verse 6. for this light diminished herself and her radiance and shells were arrayed at their sights which means they were concealing the light all those radiant lights are suspended in this expanse of heaven so that in them the throne of david will be arrayed these lights depict a figure below arraying a figure of all those included in the category human an intrinsic figure every intrinsic figure is so called so every figure comprised in this expansion is called human as is written you are human ezekiel 34 verse 31 you are human the other nations are a garment of the human and so it is written you clothed me in skin and flesh wove me of bones and sinews job chapter 10 verse 11. flesh is the garment of the human as is written everywhere flesh of a human exodus chapter 30 verse 32 human within flesh garment of the human its body specters below melted in the smelting of the spirit were figured into figures closed and another garment such as figures of pure animals ox sheep goat deer gazelle roebuck wild goat ebecks antelope and mountain sheep deuteronomy chapter 14 verse verses 4 through 5 who desire to be interwoven in the garment of the human flesh of the human the inner spirit of those figures attains the name applied to its body the garment of that name flesh of an ox oxes the interior of that body its flesh a garment and so with them all so i'll read the commentary on this so body is a garment the body clothes the soul that's pretty easy to understand as the spirit called human is refined lower spirits called specters are produced which are then clothed in the form of ten pure animals permitted to be eaten who desire to be interwoven to be included in the category of humans the other side oh i haven't got there yet i'm sorry so similarly on the other side side of impurity the spirit spreading through the other nations emerges from the side of impurity so the other side is the demonic realm the source of other nations souls the claim that the souls of the nations derive from the demonic is supposedly based on the rabbinic source but is amplified far beyond its original context so i'll continue reading the zohar it is not human and so does not attain this name the name of that spirit is impure not attaining the name human having no share in it its body is a garment of that impure flesh of impure impure within flesh its garment so as long as that spirit abides in that body it is called impure once the spirit emerges from that garment it is not called impure that garment does not attain the name specters below melted in the smelting of the spirit are figured into figures clothed in another garment such as figures of animals of impurity of which the torah opens these shall be impure for you leviticus chapter 11 verse 29 such as the pig and the birds and the animals of that side the spirit attains that name the body is its garment and is called flesh of pig pig within flesh its garment so the two sides diverge these are comprised in the mystery of human those in the mystery of impure each kind follows its own returning to its own kind so it was taught in the mishnah anything attached to something subject to impurity is itself subject to impurity anything attached to something that remains pure will itself remain pure it was taught in a beretta not for nothing did the starling follow the raven but because it is of its kind the radiant lights above shine in that expanse of heaven so that figures are drawn below fittingly as is written god placed them in the expanse of heaven to shine upon earth and to rule the day and the night genesis chapter 1 verse 17 through 18. the rain of two lights is a fitting rain greater light ruling by day smaller light by night from here derives this secret the rule of the male by day consists in filling his house with all that is needed bringing in food and nutriment as night enters and the female grasps all the house is ruled solely by her for then the rain belongs to her not to the male as is written she rises while it is still night and gives food to her household and a portion to her maidens proverbs chapter 31 verse 15 she not he ruling the day belongs to the male ruling the night to the female and the stars genesis chapter 1 verse 16. once the female commands her household and retires with her husband the house is ruled solely by the maidens who remain in the house to array it consummately after the house returns to the rule of the mail by night by day all fittingly so this in in talking about the rule of the male the sphero function as a traditional household the male t ferret gathers the flow of emanation from left and right while the female shakina channels this flow thereby nourishing the world once shechina arranges the powers under her and retires with teferet angels serve shechina where he said god made the two great lights this verse is taken to mean beena known as elohim god gave birth to tiferet and shaheena the two great lights i'm on page 158 of the pritzker edition zohar we're in volume 1. god made the two great lights this one a light that one a light so those lights ascending are called luminaries of light while those descending are called luminaries of fire rungs below controlling all the weak days therefore when shabbat departs a blessing is recited over a lamp for they have been granted authority to rule so um the ritual of havdalah marks the end of shabbat consists of blessings over wine spices and the light of a candle here it's referred to as a lamp the blessing over the flame concludes who creates the lights of the fire here luminaries of fire are the forces dominating the weekdays and sustained by shaheena who is symbolized by fire the weekday forces have been empowered by shaheena the divine lamp the ceremony of havdalah symbolizes and actualizes this transformation or this transition authority of authority the fingers of a human being are the secret of rungs and mysteries on high including front and back the backs are outside alluding to the fingernails so one is permitted to gaze at the fingernails as shabbat departs for they shine from the lamp from that fire to rule so the fingers of a human being there are ten fingers on the human hands which symbolize the ten sphere oat the fronts of the fingers adjoining the palm symbolize the sphere out while the backs of the fingers symbolize the forces beneath shakina who rule during the weekdays as one recites the blessing over the flame one bends the fingers in toward the palm and gazes at the light reflected off the fingernails which symbolize the weekday forces illumined and empowered by the fire of shakina these may be viewed but the inside of the fingers may not be viewed by the light of that lamp for they shine from above and are called interfaces so the inside of the fingers may not be viewed the front of the finger symbolize the sphere out and that's why they should be concealed so that's why we bend our hands when we are looking [Music] when we are we have said the blessing of the havdalah lamp and we bend our fingers inward so that we can see the fingernails but not the the backs of the fingers which is the underside this is the mystery of you will see my back but my face will not be seen this is um from exodus chapter 33 verse 23 you will see my back the outer face alluded to by the fingernails but my face will not be seen this is the inside of the fingers this rules on shabbat that during the week so what that means is on shabbat the sphere wrote rule through shaheena while the rest of the week is dominated by the forces beneath shakina on the day of shabbat the blessed holy one rules alone through those interfaces on his throne of glory which is to ferret and shakina all embraced by him dominion belongs to him so he conveys rest to all the worlds and the holy people called a people unique upon earth and obviously um the unique people on earth is the nation of israel inherit the heritage of this day luminaries of light from the side of the right primordial light prevailing on the first day which is the side of the right is the side of chested loving-kindness on shabbat those luminaries of light shine alone ruling and from them shine all those below when shabbat departs luminaries of light are treasured away no longer revealed and luminaries of fire rule each in its position when do they rule from the departure of shabbat until the entrance of shabbat so that's all week long so soon as shabbat departs until we greet shabbat the following shabbat that's when that happens so as shabbat departs they must be illumined by that lamp which is shakina so let us stop here for tonight because next week we'll talk about the creatures darting to and fro we will finish up we um tonight we started on page 153 if you like to go back over and read it if you're using the pritzker edition was it let me just check yep it was three 153 and we're we went all the way to 159 there's a lot of commentary there i didn't read all of it but um i think that's a lot for us to digest over the next week and this is why we're going through this not rushing through this every week but going through the whole zohar uh so slowly so that we can try to understand what it's saying and what it's telling us thank you so much for joining us tonight let us just end this evening with the prayer for peace and please join me oh say shalom [Music] yes may your peace descend upon us upon your people israel upon all of the world and may we be a reflection of your light of your love and of your shalom to this world in this time and in this week and may we say amen amen thank you so much everyone for joining us tonight i hope you'll join us tomorrow night for the derek hashem study and have a wonderful night lila tov

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Published: Mon Nov 02 2020