Kabbalah Kabbalah - by the Blessing of G-D H”B with the Knowledge of Heaven D”Sb Contents Everything Belongs to Hashem
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“King Selection” 1 Kings 1-2 January 8, 2017 INTRODUCTION: As The
“King Selection” 1 Kings 1-2 January 8, 2017 INTRODUCTION: As the book of Kings opens, Israel is at a time of uncertainty. The great King David is obviously fading and not long for this life. That’s the point of the opening verses of the book. In the words of one commentary, David is old and cold. His servants try covering him with more clothes, but he is still cold. Then they have another idea. They want to add to his harem the most beautiful woman they can find. Something like a beauty pageant is held, and a woman by the name of Abishag is selected as the most beautiful young woman of the nation. They reason that if she can’t get his blood flowing again, nothing can. But it doesn’t work, for we read that “the king knew her not,” a common euphemism in the Scriptures for sexual intimacy. So David has declined to the point that everyone knows his death is not far away. But a successor has not been named. God had already declared through Nathan the prophet that a son of David would sit on his throne (2 Sam. 7:12), but it was not revealed exactly which son it would be. Two sons compete for the crown in these first two chapters, Adonijah and Solomon. One is the wrong king and the other God’s anointed. As is the case with us, everything depends on having the right king. To make a wrong choice leads to catastrophic results, while making the right choice leads to the fulfillment of our strongest and best longings. -
1. Keter (Primary Meaning: Crown
1. KETER (PRIMARY MEANING: CROWN. ALSO KNOWN AS: UPPER CROWN, AYIN (NOTHINGNESS), CHOKHMAH PENIMIT (INTERNAL WISDOM), MAHSHAVAH ELOHIT (DIVINE THOUGHT), SPIRIT OF G-D, ROOT OF ROOTS, MYSTERIOUS WISDOM, EHYEH ASHER EHYEH, (I AM THAT I AM) 2. CHOKHMAH (PRIMARY MEANING: WISDOM. ALSO KNOWN AS: REVELATION, THE PRIMORDIAL TORAH (THE TORAH THAT EXISTED BEFORE CREATION), FATHER, YESH ME-AYIN (BEING FROM NOTHINGNESS), BEGINNING, YAH, YHVH) 3. BINAH (PRIMARY MEANING: UNDERSTANDING. ALSO KNOWN AS: INTELLECT, TESHUVAH (REPENTANCE), REASON, PALACE, TEMPLE, WOMB, UPPER MOTHER, JERUSALEM ABOVE, FREEDOM, JUBILEE, "YHVH PRONOUNCED AS ELOHIM") 4. CHESED (PRIMARY MEANING: MERCY. ALSO KNOWN AS: GRACE, LOVE OF G-D, RIGHT ARM OF G-D, WHITE, EL, ASSOCIATED WITH ABRAHAM) 5. GEVURAH (ALSO CALLED "DIN" - PRIMARY MEANING: JUDGMENT. ALSO KNOWN AS: STRENGTH, SEVERITY, FEAR OF G-D, LEFT ARM OF G-D, RED, ELOHIM, YAH, ASSOCIATED WITH ISAAC) 6. TIPHERET (PRIMARY MEANING: BEAUTY. ALSO KNOWN AS: HARMONY, RACHAMIM (COMPASSION), THE ATTRIBUTE OF MERCY, THE WRITTEN TORAH, BRIDEGROOM, HUSBAND, SON, KING, FATHER, MESSIAH, TABERNACLE/TEMPLE, THE HOLY TREE, (TREE OF LIFE), HEAVEN, THE LETTER "VAV," CREATOR, GATE OF RIGHTEOUSNESS, SUN, "THE HOLY ONE BLESSED BE HE," HA-SHEM, YHVH, YHVH-ELOHIM, THE GREAT NAME, THE UNIQUE NAME, THE LUCID MIRROR, OPEN MIRACLES, LULAV [ON SUCCOTH], THE SHOFAR [AS RELATED TO THE MITZVOT OF BLOWING THE SHOFAR], GREEN, TEFILLIN OF THE HEAD, ASSOCIATED WITH JACOB) 7. NETZACH (PRIMARY MEANING: VICTORY. ALSO KNOWN AS: ETERNITY, PROPHECY, ORCHESTRATION, INITIATIVE, PERSISTENCE, BITACHON (CONFIDENCE), RIGHT LEG, "HOSTS OF YHVH," ASSOCIATED WITH MOSES) 8. HOD (PRIMARY MEANING: GLORY. ALSO KNOWN AS: MAJESTY, SPLENDOR, REVERBERATION, PROPHECY, SURRENDER, TEMIMUT (SINCERITY), ANCHOR, STEADFASTNESS, LEFT LEG, "HOSTS OF ELOHIM," ASSOCIATED WITH AARON) 9. -
Exile and Exodus 2 the Kabbalist Haggadah: a Handbook of the Seder
Exile and Exodus 2 The Kabbalist Haggadah: A Handbook of the Seder The Exile of Da’at – Knowing In order to understand the meaning of Passover, celebrating the Exodus from Egypt, we must be clear about the meaning of the Egyptian exile. It was, to use the terminology of the Kabbalah, ‘The Exile of Knowing.’ The Hebrew word for ‘Knowing’ is Da’at - ,gs. Of all the trees in the Garden of Eden, one was forbidden to Adam. In the text of Genesis (2 :9), it is named the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, the Tree of Da’at of Tov and Ra. In the simplest of terms, eating of the Tree of Knowledge precipitated a crisis in the world - it became and remains impossible to separate good and evil absolutely. Since the time of the eating, good and evil are mingled, confused and often indistinguishable. An example of the confusion that prevails: In Ger- many between the years 1933-45, cruelty toward animals was considered a hei- nous crime, and progressively harsher laws were passed to punish it. What can one say to such a statement? Is any part of it good or bad? Is the good not inex- tricably confused with the evil? Maimonides, in his monumental work on Jewish Law (Hilchoth Teshuvah 5:5) discusses ‘Knowing’ both in the divine and human spheres. If you ask: Since God knows everything, does He have prior knowledge of who will be virtuous and who will be evil, or does God not know? If God knows someone will be virtuous is it possible for him not to be so? If you say that God knows the person will be virtuous but the possi- bility remains that he will be evil, is there not something confused about God’s knowledge? Know, the answer to this question measures longer than the world, broader than the ocean. -
Hassan V. National Insurance Institute.Pdf
The Supreme Court sitting as the High Court of Justice HCJ 10662/04 HCJ 3282/05 HCJ 7804/05 Before: The honorable President D. Beinisch The honorable Justice M. Naor The honorable Justice E. Arbel The honorable Justice E. Rubinstein The honorable Justice S. Joubran The honorable Justice E. Hayut The honorable Justice U. Fogelman Petitioners in HCJ 10662/04: 1. Salah Hassan 2. Sawt el-Amel/The Laborer’s Voice – Defending the Rights of Workers and Unemployed 3. Adalah – The Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel Petitioners in HCJ 3282/05: 1. Meirav Ben-Nun 2. Yael Be’er Salaman 3. Chen Hazan-Gilboa 4. Sigalit Bakar 5. Avigayil Avihu 6. Mechuyavut -- Commitment to 1 Peace and Social Justice 7. Itach – Women Lawyers for Social Justice Petitioners in HCJ 7804/05: Idit Edan v. Respondents in HCJ 10662/04: 1. National Insurance Institute 2. Ministry of Industry, Trade and Labor Respondents in HCJ 3282/05: 1. National Insurance Institute 2. Minister of Social Affairs Respondents in HCJ 7804/05: 1. National Labor Court 2. National Insurance Institute Petitions to grant an order nisi Date of hearing: 11 Heshvan 5772 (November 8, 2011) 2 On behalf of the Petitioners in Sawsan Zahr, attorney at law HCJ 10662/04 3 4 On behalf of the Petitioners in Keren Shemesh Perlmutter, attorney at HCJ 3282/05 law; Netta Ziv, attorney at law 5 6 On behalf of the Petitioners in Eduardo Wasser, attorney at law HCJ 7804/05 7 8 On behalf of the Respondents Chani Ofek, attorney at law; Orna in HCJ 10662/04, HCJ Rosen-Amir, attorney at law; Carmit 3282/05 and HCJ 7804/05 Naor, attorney at law 9 Judgment President D. -
THE LAST DAYS of DAVID 2 Samuel 21, 23, 24 and 1 Kings 1 and 2
THE LAST DAYS OF DAVID 2 Samuel 21, 23, 24 and 1 Kings 1 and 2 Act 1: Act 2: Act 3: Narrator Narrator Narrator David David David Joshua Joab Joab Gibeonite 1 Gad, the prophet Adonijah A prophet Josheb, a mighty man Nathan, the prophet Gibeonite 2 Eleazar, a mighty man Bathsheba Rizpah Shammah, a mighty man Solomon Araunah, a Jebusite Benaiah, an army general Jonathan, Abiathar the priest’s son ACT 1: The Gibeonites are avenged NARRATOR: The Bible records several rather odd stories that occurred towards the end of David’s life. The first one involves a people group called the Gibeonites. Back in the time of Joshua, just after Jericho had been destroyed, the Canannites living in the city of Gibeon decided that they would try to avoid being exterminated. They had heard the rumor that the God of the Israelites had told his people to totally wipe out everyone living in the land of Canaan. They believed this would come true and they were very afraid. They decided to try to trick Joshua into making a peace treaty with them. The messengers they sent to Joshua were wearing old clothes and carrying dry and moldy food. JOSHUA: Who are you and where do you come from? GIBEONITE 1: We have come from a distant land. When we started our journey our clothes were new and our food was fresh. You can see how worn out and old they are now. That is because we have been traveling so long to get here. However, we have heard stories about all the things your God has done for you. -
The Soul of a Jew and the Soul of a Non-Jew an Inconvenient Truth and the Search for an Alternative
47 The Soul of a Jew and the Soul of a Non-Jew An Inconvenient Truth and the Search for an Alternative By: HANAN BALK Holiness is not found in the human being in essence unless he sanctifies himself. According to his preparation for holiness, so the fullness comes upon him from on High. A person does not acquire holiness while inside his mother. He is not holy from the womb, but has to labor from the very day he comes into the air of the world. 1 Introduction: The Soul of a Jew is Superior to that of a Non-Jew The view expressed in the above heading—as uncomfortable and racially charged as it may be in the minds of some—was undoubtedly, as we shall show, the prominent position maintained by authorities of Jewish thought throughout the ages, and continues to be so even today. While Jewish mysticism is the source and primary expositor of this theory, it has achieved a ubiquitous presence not only in the writings of Kabbalists,2 but also in the works of thinkers found in the libraries of most observant Jews, who hardly consider themselves followers of Kabbalah. Clearly, for one committed to the Torah and its principles, it is not tenable to presume that so long as he is not a Kabbalist, such a belief need not be a part of his religious worldview. Is there an alternative view that is an equally authentic representation of Jewish thought on the subject? In response to this question, we will 1 R. Simhạ Bunim of Przysukha, Kol Simha,̣ Parshat Miketz, p. -
Jazz Psalms Sheet Music
Sheet Music for Featuring: Lead sheets (including melody and chords) Overhead masters Introductory notes Transcribed by Ron Rienstra Introduction ............................................................................................................................. 3 1. Psalm 100 – Make a Joyful Noise ............................................................................. 5 2a. Psalm 139 – You Created My Innermost Being ...................................................... 7 2b. Psalm 139 – You Created My Innermost Being (in a higher key) ...................... 9 3. Psalm 63 – My Soul Thirsts for God ....................................................................... 11 4a. Psalm 119 – Your Promise Preserves My Life ....................................................... 13 4b. Psalm 119 – Your Promise Preserves My Life (in a higher key) ....................... 15 5. Psalm 79 – Help Us, O God Our Savior, ............................................................... 17 6. Psalm 27 – The Lord Is My Light and My Stronghold ....................................... 19 7a. Psalm 92 – Though the Wicked Spring Up Like Grass ....................................... 21 7b. Psalm 92 – Though the Wicked Spring Up Like Grass (in a higher key) ....... 23 8. Psalm 51 – Wash Me, O God ..................................................................................... 25 9a. Psalm 85 – He Promises Peace to His People ....................................................... 27 9b. Psalm 85 – He Promises Peace to His People (in a higher -
Chassidus on the Chassidus on the Parsha +
LIGHTS OF OUR RIGHTEOUS TZADDIKIM בעזרת ה ' יתבר A Tzaddik, or righteous person , makes everyone else appear righteous before Hashem by advocating for them and finding their merits. Kedushas Levi, Parshas Noach (Bereishis 7:1) VA’ES CHA NAN _ CHASSIDUS ON THE PARSHA + Dvar Torah Deciphered Messages The Torah tells us ( Shemos 19:19) that when the Jewish people gathered at Mount Sinai to receive the Torah , “Moshe spoke and Hashem answered him with a voice.” The Gemora (Berochos 45a) der ives from this pasuk the principle that that an interpreter should not speak more loudly than the reader whose words he is translating. Tosafos immediately ask the obvious question: from that pasuk we see actually see the opposite: that the reader should n ot speak more loudly than the interpreter. We know, says Rav Levi Yitzchok, that Moshe’s nevua (prophecy) was different from that of the other nevi’im (prophets) in that “the Shechina was speaking through Moshe’s throat”. This means that the interpretation of the nevuos of the other nevi’im is not dependent on the comprehension of the people who hear it. The nevua arrives in this world in the mind of the novi and passes through the filter of his perspectives. The resulting message is the essence of the nevua. When Moshe prophesied, however, it was as if the Shechina spoke from his throat directly to all the people on their particular level of understanding. Consequently, his nevuos were directly accessible to all people. In this sense then, Moshe was the rea der of the nevua , and Hashem was the interpreter. -
סלח לנו S’Lach Lanu Forgive Us a Short Service for Selichot
סלח לנו S’lach Lanu Forgive Us a short service for Selichot Rabbi Rachel Barenblat 2 Shehecheyanu ָברְּוך ַאָּתה יי ֱֹאלֵהינּו ֶמ ְֶלך ָהעוָֹלם, ׁ ,Baruch atah Adonai Eloheinu melech ha’olam ֶשֶהֱחָינּו ְִוְקּיָמנּו ְוִהִּגיָענּו shehecheyanu vekiyemanu vehigiyanu ַלְּזַמן ַהֶּזה. .lazeman hazeh Blessed are You, Source of all being, Who has given us life, established us and allowed us to reach this sacred moment. Lach Amar Libi (Psalm 27:8) You לָך Lach :Called to my heart ַָאמר ִלבִּי Amar libi ,Come seek My face ַבְּקשׁוּ ָפָני Bakshuּ fanai .Come seek My grace ַבְּקשׁוּ ָפָני Bakshu fanai ,For Your love ֶאת ָפָּנִיך Et panayich ,Source of all הוי''ה Havayah .I will seek ֲַקבאֵשׁ Avakeish (melody from Nava Tehila; singable English by Rabbi David Markus) 3 Havdalah: Sanctifying Transition ִהֵנּה ֵאל ְישׁוָּעִתי, ֶאְבַטח ְולֹא ֶאְפָחד, ,Hineh el yeshuati, evtach v'lo efchad Ki ozi v'zimrat Yah, v'y'hi li l'yeshua. ִכי ָעִזּי ְוִזְמָרת יָהּ יְיָ, ַוְיִהי ִלי ִלישׁוָּעה: Ushavtem mayyim b'sasson mimainei וְּשַׁאְבֶתּם ַמִים ְבָּשׂשׂוֹן ִמַמַּעְיֵני ַהְישָׁוּעה: .ha-yeshua ַלָיי ַהְישָׁוּעה ַעל ַעְמּך ִבְרָכֶתך ֶסָּלה: L'Adonai ha-yeshua el amcha birchatecha יְיָ ְצָבאוֹת ִעָמּנוּ ִמְשָׂגּב ָלנוּ ֱאלֵהי ַיֲעקֹב ֶסָלה: .selah יְיָ ְצָבאוֹת ַאְשֵרי ָאָדם בֵֹּטַח ָבּך: Adonai tz'vaot imanu misgav lanu Elohei Ya'akov selah. יְיָ הוִֹשׁיָעה ַהֶמֶּלך ַיֲעֵננוּ ְביוֹם ָקְרֵאנוּ: .Adonai tz'vaot ashrei adam bote'ach bach ַלְיּהוִּדים ָהְיָתה אוָֹרה ְוִשְׂמָחה ְוָשׂשׂוֹן ִוָיקר: Adonai hoshia hamelech ya'aneinu b'yom ֵכּן ִתְּהֶיה ָלּנוּ, כּוֹס יְשׁוּעוֹת ֶאָשּׂא. .koreinu וְּבֵשׁם יְיָ ֶאְקָרא: ,La-yehudim haita ora v'simcha v'sasson v'ikar Ken tihyeh lanu. -
Kabbalah and Ecology
excursus 1 Nefesh and related terms The primary meanings of n’shamah and nefesh in Torah can be understood by examining their relationship to ru’ach, meaning “spirit” and “wind”. Let us assume for the sake of argument that the triad ru’ach–nefesh–n’shamah covers one and the same “semantic space” as the triad of spirit–wind–breath. How does this semantic space get divided differently in modern English and in Biblical Hebrew? Starting from what is most similar, n’shamah,like“breath”,denotesthe respiration of a living, physical subject. From here the concepts diverge vastly. Breath is physical, while “spirit” denotes something metaphysical; breath is alive, while “wind” is not. One can visualize “breath” to be like a firmament, a flat plane, separating the metaphysical “spirit” above from the physical “wind” below. Thus a simple hierarchy is delineated: the metaphysical and animate spirit stands above the physical but still animate breath, which stands above the physical and inanimate wind. In this manner “spirit–wind–breath” defines its semantic space by dividing it into hierarchical levels, and it follows the history of conquest by reserving the Latin-derived word for the top of the hierarchy. The fact that spirit and wind are unified in the single word ru’ach suggests averydifferentarrangementofsemanticspace.Whatspiritandwindshareis that they both transcend physical bodies and are independent from any physical subject. Thus, ru’ach can be conceptualized as the external breath, the breath of Elohim, which both strikes the prophets and sways the tree branches. Ru’ach, which could be translated “spirit-wind”, would mean any un- or disembodied invisible flow (which could therefore be attributed to God), including the wind. -
The Psalms As Hymns in the Temple of Jerusalem Gary A
4 The Psalms as Hymns in the Temple of Jerusalem Gary A. Rendsburg From as far back as our sources allow, hymns were part of Near Eastern temple ritual, with their performers an essential component of the temple functionaries. 1 These sources include Sumerian, Akkadian, and Egyptian texts 2 from as early as the third millennium BCE. From the second millennium BCE, we gain further examples of hymns from the Hittite realm, even if most (if not all) of the poems are based on Mesopotamian precursors.3 Ugarit, our main source of information on ancient Canaan, has not yielded songs of this sort in 1. For the performers, see Richard Henshaw, Female and Male: The Cu/tic Personnel: The Bible and Rest ~(the Ancient Near East (Allison Park, PA: Pickwick, 1994) esp. ch. 2, "Singers, Musicians, and Dancers," 84-134. Note, however, that this volume does not treat the Egyptian cultic personnel. 2. As the reader can imagine, the literature is ~xtensive, and hence I offer here but a sampling of bibliographic items. For Sumerian hymns, which include compositions directed both to specific deities and to the temples themselves, see Thorkild Jacobsen, The Harps that Once ... : Sumerian Poetry in Translation (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1987), esp. 99-142, 375--444. Notwithstanding the much larger corpus of Akkadian literarure, hymn~ are less well represented; see the discussion in Alan Lenzi, ed., Reading Akkadian Prayers and Hymns: An Introduction, Ancient Near East Monographs (Atlanta: Society of Biblical Literature, 2011), 56-60, with the most important texts included in said volume. For Egyptian hymns, see Jan A%mann, Agyptische Hymnen und Gebete, Orbis Biblicus et Orientalis (Gottingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1999); Andre Barucq and Frarn;:ois Daumas, Hymnes et prieres de /'Egypte ancienne, Litteratures anciennes du Proche-Orient (Paris: Cerf, 1980); and John L. -
Searching for Holiness: the Song of the Sea in Tanakh and Tefillah
Searching for Holiness: The Song of the Sea in Tanakh and Tefillah Byline: Rachel Friedman Searching for Holiness: The Song of the Sea in Tanakh and Tefillah [1] Rachel Friedman In the past several generations, a literary approach to Tanakh study has engaged both lay and academic Jewish learners; indeed, it is a significant subject in this volume. The thesis of this article is that a literary reading of biblical material found in the daily liturgy can similarly infuse our prayers with new levels of meaning and connect these specific prayers to the larger themes and messages of the Siddur. In this article, I will focus on the prayer of Az Yashir, also known as Shirat ha-Yam (The [2] Song of the Sea, or simply, the Song), to demonstrate this methodology. It is hoped that a literary-theological analysis of the Song in its biblical and liturgical settings will inspire a personal connection between this ancient poem and its modern daily readers. The Verses of Praise and the Daily Prayer Service The Song of the Sea is part of the section of the liturgy known as Pesukei de-Zimra, or verses of praise. The Talmud teaches (Berakhot 32b) that “a person should first recount the praise of God, and then pray.” The Rabbis instituted Pesukei de-Zimra to prepare the individual for the recitation of the central elements of the daily prayer service—the Shema and the Amidah—by focusing one’s thoughts on God and contemplation of His glory. Before we can ask God to grant our needs and requests, we enter the proper state of mind by thinking about Him and praising Him.