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Lesson Twelve Basic Concepts in Kabbalah Tzorekh Gavoha: the Divine Need

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Lesson Twelve Basic Concepts in Kabbalah Tzorekh Gavoha: the Divine Need LESSON TWELVE BASIC CONCEPTS IN KABBALAH TZOREKH GAVOHA: THE DIVINE NEED TEXT ONE ---Zohar, II, 119a (Raya Meheimna) (Moses is praised because) With every mitzvah he tried to unite Ha-Kadosh Barukh Hu (Tiferet) with the Shekhinah in all assemblies, above and below. TWO OTHER IMPORTANT CONCEPTS: (1) ADAM KADMON: PRIMORDIAL MAN (2) YICHUD: UNIFICATION TEXT TWO --- Sifrei, V’zot ha-Berakha, sect. 346 Rabbi Shimon ben Yochai says: A parable. A man brought two ships, tied them to anchors and iron weights, stationed them in the middle of the sea, and built a palace upon them. As long as the two ships are tied to each other, the palace stands firm. Once the ships are separated, the palace cannot stand. Thus it is also with Israel: when they do the will of God, He builds His upper chambers in the heaven; when they do not do His will, as it were, He founds His vault upon the earth. Similarly, Scripture says: This is my God, and I will glorify Him (Exod. 15:2); when I acknowledge Him, He is glorious, but when I do not acknowledge Him, he is, as it were, not glorious. For I will proclaim the name of God; ascribe greatness unto our God (Deut. 32:3); when I proclaim His Name, He is great, but when I do not, (He is not great), as it were. Similarly, Therefore you are My witnesses, says the Lord, and I am God (Isa. 43:12); when you are My witnesses, I am God, but when you are not My witnesses, I am, as it were, not God. TEXT THREE --- Midrash Eikhah Rabbah 1:33 And now, let the power of God be increased. (Num. 14:17) [What does this mean?] When Israel does the will of the Holy One, Blessed be He, they add strength to the power of the One Above, as it says, And now, let the power of God be increased. 1 And when Israel does not do the will of the Holy One, Blessed be He, they, as it were, reduce strength from the power of the One Above, as is written: the Rock that bore you, you weakened. (Deut. 32:18) TEXT FOUR --- Bahir, #185. How does one give chesed (love) to the Creator? By studying Torah. For whoever learns Torah for its own sake gives chesed to his Creator, as it is written: He rides in the heaven with your help and with His majesty in the skies. (Deut. 33:26) Thus, when a person learns Torah for its own sake, you help Me and I ride in the heavens, with His majesty in the skies. TEXT FIVE --- Shnei Luchot ha-Brit, Toldot Adam, Sha’ar ha-Gadol, sect. 11. We learn: “All your deeds shall be l’shem shamayim (for the sake of heaven).” (Pirkei Avot 2:17) In other words, to unite the Name, which is Malkhut, as is known, with Heaven, which is Tiferet, as is known. The Sages also taught in the language of the Mishnah: “Everything that the Holy One, Blessed be He, created in His world, He only created for His Glory.” (Pirkei Avot 6:11) This means one must worship the Name for the Glory of the Name, to increase the power above and unite the Great Name with its Glory. It is true that the revealed explanation is that He created it for His Glory, as the Zohar wrote: “so that His Divinity would be known,” so there would be creatures who would know and recognize Him. And both of these explanations are true and depend upon each other... TEXT SIX A. --- Zohar, III, 5a B. --- Shnei Luchot ha-Brit, Toldot Adam, Sha’ar ha-Gadol, sect. 10 A. [Rabbi Abba cited the verse:] Great is the Lord and highly praised (Ps. 48:2). When is the Holy One, Blessed be He, called “very great”? When He is with the Knesset Yisrael (“community of Israel”), as it is written (in the continuation of the verse): b’ir Eloheinu (“in the city of our God”). In the city of our God, He is great. In the city of our God means with the city of our God. Rabbi Yudah said: Why is of our God required here? He {Rabbi Abba) answered: So it is indeed. It is 2 the city of the power of God and praise of Israel. What is the meaning? It means: a king without a queen is not a king; he is not great, and he is not praised. B. Therefore, if He is in the city that is of our God--in other words, if He is in a complete union with Her--He is great. The reason and cause for this union is the perfection of the soul through the Torah and the mitzvot. This is the allusion in saying of our God. In other words, we accept His Divinity and do His mitzvot. TEXT SEVEN --- Zohar, II, 65b Amalek came (Ex. 17:8). Rabbi Shimon said: Mystery of wisdom! He came from a decree of severe judgment, and a single war took place above and below. You cannot find a word in Torah that does not contain supernal secrets of wisdom linked to the Holy Name. the Holy One, Blessed be He, said, as it were: When Israel are virtuous below, My power gains strength over all. When they are not virtuous, they, as it were, weaken the power above, and the power of severe judgment is strengthened. TEXT EIGHT --- Rabbenu Bachya (14th c.), commentary on Ex. 20:1. And they shall know that I am God who brought you out of the land of Egypt to dwell within your midst.” (Ex. 29:46) The presence of the Shekhinah in Israel is also for the tzorekh gavoha and not the tzorekh hedyot (human need) ...Israel has the power to either weaken or strengthen the power above, depending upon their deeds. TEXT NINE A. Talmud, Shabbat 89a B. Meir ibn Gabbai, Avodat ha-Kodesh (“The Holy Service”, 1531), introduction. A. When Moses ascended on high, he found that the Holy One, Blessed be He, was binding crowns for the letters (of the Torah). He said to him: “Moses, is there no shalom in your city?” Moses answered: “Does a servant say shalom to his master?” God said: “You should help me.” Immediately, he said: Now may the power of my Lord increase, as You have said... (Num. 14:17) 3 B. This matter (the tzorekh gavoha) is extremely difficult; it cannot be grasped by any intellect. This is because the human intellect cannot imagine that the supernal tikkun (repair, healing) is placed in the power of those below and that worship and prayer are for the tzorekh gavoha, were it not that the Holy One, Blessed be He, revealed this secret to the lord of the prophets (Moses), until he wondered at this. Thus the sages said, “He was binding crowns.” This is the binding together and union of the letters, which is the secret of the powers of the united Name (in which these powers) are bound together. TEXT TEN --- Moshe Cordovero (1522-1570), Pardes Rimonim (“The Orchard of Pomegranates”), Gate 32, ch. 1, as taught by Abraham Azulai (1570-1643, Morocco/Israel). The man who worships without the expectation of receiving a reward, is a man whom his Creator has bestowed with the grace of entering the inner (meaning) of the hidden wisdom (i.e., of the Kabbalah), and knows and perceives that by reciting Barekh Aleinu and Refa’einu (“Bless us,” “Heal us,” among the blessings contained in the weekday Amidah), the intention is to draw down the blessing and the shefa within each and every blessing, to a certain sefirah, as we know. Behold, this man worships the Holy One, Blessed be He, and His Shekhinah, as a son and a servant serving his master with a perfect worship, out of love, without deriving any benefit or reward from that worship...because the wise man (i.e., the Kabbalist) by the quality of his (mystical) intention, when he intends during his prayer, his soul will be elevated by his arousal from one degree to another, from one entity to another, until it arrives and is welcome and appears before its Creator, and cleaves to its source, to the source of life. Then a great influx will be emanated upon her from there, and he will become a vessel, a place and a foundation for (that) influx, and from him it will be distributed to all the world...until the Shekhinah will cleave to him... TEXT ELEVEN --- Alexander Susskind of Grodno, Yesod v'Shoresh ha-Avodah (“The Foundation and Root of Divine Worship,” 1782), Sha’ar Ha-Kolel, ch. 3, p. 20 And so it is for everything a person does, whether it be fulfilling a mitzvah or anything else one might do, he should say its purpose is for the sake of unifying 4 (yichud) the Holy One, Blessed be He, with His Shekhinah, and so may a person evoke the Name of the Holy One over every deed, a pervading spirit of sanctity...as explained in the Zohar (III, 51b): “Rabbi Eleazar said that everything a person does must be for the sake of holiness. And how does one do that? One must invoke God's Name over every deed; let everything be for the service of God rather than for the sitra achra (the other side). Such defilement is an ever-present possibility over each deed!” And so with everything one does, if you build a new house or buy something from someone else, let it be with (this intention of) yichud.
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