Parshat Qedoshim: Intimate Love

BS"D


This week's Parsha begins with G@d urging us to be holy in Sefer Va-yiqra/Leviticus 19:1-2:

וַיְדַבֵּר יְהוָה, אֶל-מֹשֶׁה לֵּאמֹר. דַּבֵּר אֶל-כָּל-עֲדַת בְּנֵי-יִשְׂרָאֵל, וְאָמַרְתָּ אֲלֵהֶם--קְדֹשִׁים תִּהְיוּ: כִּי קָדוֹשׁ, אֲנִי יְהוָה אֱלֹהֵיכֶם.

Va-y’dabeyr Y_H_V_H el-Moshe Leymor: Dabeyr el-kol-adat b’nai-Yisra’el v’amarta aleyhem qedoshim tih’yu ki qadosh ani Ad@nai Eloqeykhem.

Which roughly translates (in my world) as: "And Y_H_V_H spoke to Moshe, saying: Speak to the entire community of the Children of Israel, & say to them: “Holy are you to be, for holy am I, Y_H_V_H, your G@d!”

You'll notice it's in the imperative...


Do you know the gematria of the word Qedoshim?
(ק) Quf = 100
(ד) Dalet = 4
(ש) Shin = 300
(י) Yud = 10
(מ) Mem = 40
equals a total of 454*

454 is the same gematria as “chotam” (feminine is Chotemet - חוֹתָם, חוֹתֶמֶת), meaning seal, signet, stamp, mark, imprint.

In Shir HaShirim/Song of Songs 8:6, where the voice of the woman insists to her lover:

...שִׂימֵנִי כַחוֹתָם עַל-לִבֶּךָ

Simeni kachotam al libekha…

"Stamp me like a seal in your heart …”

(siman = sign, mark, indication, also: to take shape, to be denoted, to stand out = סִימָן)

What do we call the wedding ceremony in Hebrew?
Qidushin.

What does the Chatan, the groom, say to his Kallah, his bride, under the chupah, to make them married?
Harey et mequdeshet li, b’taba’at zo…

He says with this ring, you are consecrated to me – you are imprinted on me – you are holy to me!

The ring is the siman, the sign of the marriage and you know what? The word “siman” begins with the letter Samekh (ס)…which is shaped like a ring!

And the word “to me/mine”, li, is so powerful! In Sefer Sh'mot parshat Yitro/Exodus 19:5 it says -

וְעַתָּה, אִם-שָׁמוֹעַ תִּשְׁמְעוּ בְּקֹלִי, וּשְׁמַרְתֶּם, אֶת-בְּרִיתִי--וִהְיִיתֶם לִי סְגֻלָּה מִכָּל-הָעַמִּים, כִּי-לִי כָּל-הָאָרֶץ.

Ve-atah im-shamo'a tish'mu b'qoli ush'martem et-b'riti vih'yitem li segulah mikal-ha'amim ki-li kal-ha'aretz.

"So now, if you will hearken, yes, hearken to My voice and keep My covenant, you shall be to Me a special-treasure from among all peoples. Indeed, all the earth is Mine:"

The place in the Torah where G@D says to us, "...vih'yitem li segulah..." - "...you shall be to Me a special-treasure..." - the Lamed and the Yud of "li" - "to Me", "for Me", "Mine" are occasionally written joined. This is extremely rare, as the scribes disagree on this practice.

Our tradition tells us that these two letters in this word are joined at this point in the Torah to show the closeness and intimacy that G@D wishes to share with us. Because if ANY other letters have negiyah (are touching) in a Sefer Torah, that entire Torah is pasul - unfit for use. But here?

You know what else the shoresh/root of Ch-T-M, chotam, means? To COMPLETE! This is the definition of holiness.

How close, intimate and exclusive these lovers must be to truly become one, to authentically experience marriage on every possible level. Just as the lover in the Shir passionately invites, “dedicate your Self to me”, so does G@d passionately invite us, “Dedicate your SELF to me.”

Same as the closeness we can achieve with G@d, only through love, and surrender of the ego. This is the only way to fully cleave our souls into one. Uniting with G@d through uniting with your spouse.
Becoming One with The ONE.

Just as spouses have a unique opportunity to unify with each other, so do we have the unique opportunity to unify with G@d.

Shabbat Shalom.


* Of the several methods traditionally used to calculate gematria, I chose Mispar Hechrachi, the normative or absolute numerical value of the twenty-two Sacred letters for the purposes of this article.


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Based on article originally published May 2005 at Netivat Sofrut: Diary of a Soferet
Subsequently published on Facebook
Copyright A. Barclay

S/He Ain't Heavy, S/He's my G@d - Enlarged Letters Nun and Reysh in Parshat Ki Tisa

בס''ד


In this week's Torah portion - Sh'mot parshat Ki Tisa – there are two letters which must be written very large in proportion to the rest, otherwise that particular Sefer Torah is considered pasul – unfit for public use - according to most authorities. Rabbi Chayim Dovid Halevy z"l, the former Sephardi Chief Rabbi of Tel Aviv, writes that each case of an enlarged letter anywhere in TaNa"Kh (the Hebrew Bible) indicates to us an instance of G@d making an extra effort of chesed – kindness - for the sake of the universe.

There is a third enlarged letter appearing in this Parshah only to be found in scrolls written by Jewish Mystics schooled in traditional Kabbalah. As this letter is not universally accepted, I'll write more about it later.

The first is the very large letter Nun found in Sh'mot/Exodus 34:7, and is part of the liturgy we chant during the Yamim Nora'im, the Days of Awe and one of the 13 attributes of G@d: "Notzeyr chesed la'alafim nosey avon vafesha v'chata'ah v'naqeyh y'naqeh poqeyd avon avot al-banim v'al-b'ney vanim al-shileyshim v'al-ribey'im:"

נֹצֵר חֶסֶד לָאֲלָפִים, נֹשֵׂא עָוֹן וָפֶשַׁע וְחַטָּאָה; וְנַקֵּה, לֹא יְנַקֶּה--פֹּקֵד עֲוֹן אָבוֹת עַל-בָּנִים וְעַל-בְּנֵי בָנִים, עַל-שִׁלֵּשִׁים וְעַל-רִבֵּעִים.

"Maintaining mercy to the thousandth (generation), forgiving iniquity, rebellion & sin, yet not clearing, clearing (the guilty), calling-to-account the iniquity of the fathers upon the children and upon children's children, to the third and fourth (generation)!:"

The enlarged Nun at the beginning of the word natzar/maintaining (נָצַר) - is to remind us that the letter Nun also begins another word, "ne'eman" (נֶאֱמָן), which means "faithful". This is to assure us that we can rely on G@D's chesed/kindnesses.

Ne'eman,"faithful", is spelled with a Nun Kefuf, bent (נ), at the beginning and a Nun Sofit, straight (ן), at the end. The bent Nun denotes reliability while the straight Nun stands for continuity. Sometimes our souls, our neshamahs, are withdrawn and resigned, in a state of contraction like the resting Nun, while at other times it is active and exuberant like the erect Nun. When someone is inactive and immobile, his/her soul lies fallow, but when this person feels vibrant and motivated, his/her neshamah draws itself up to its full height.

The letter Nun has a gematrial value of 50. There are fifty Gates of Binah (בִּינָה - understanding, sense or wisdom) in our tradition. The same gates which we pass through as we count the Omer between the second day of Pesach and Shavu'ot, invoking the presence of each S'firah as we walk the Tree of Life. Each Gate refers to the nature of each of the fifty references to our Exodus in the Sefer Torah, fifty queries into the nature of Creation which G@d poses Iyov (Job), the cycle of fifty years culminating in the Yovel - Jubilee year, and to the Fifty thousand Jubilees of the World to Come.

Traditionally, Moshiach has four names: Menachem, Shiloh, Yenon and Chaninah. The initials of these four names spells the word "Moshiach" (מָשִׁיחַ). Our Sages teach us that one of these names, Yenon (which means "shall rule"), is associated with the letter Nun. The Messiah is "nistar" – a hidden secret revealed to us by this large letter in its bowed position, the humbled vessel of true insight.

Among many other things, the letter Nun symbolizes downfall with simultaneous salvation, fruitfulness, and faithfulness leading to Moshiach.

This represents the selflessness inherent in "Previous World consciousness", the rectified state of the World to Come & The Shekhinah, G@D's sheltering, Divine Feminine Presence.

...

The second standard enlarged letter in Parshat Ki Tisa is the letter Reysh (ר) ending the word "acheyR" in "Ki lo tishtachaveh l'eyl acheyR ki Y-H-V-H qana sh'mo QEyl qana hu."

כִּי לֹא תִשְׁתַּחֲוֶה, לְאֵל אַחֵר: כִּי יְהוָה קַנָּא שְׁמוֹ, אֵל קַנָּא הוּא.

"For: you will not bow down to any other god! For Ha-Shem, Jealous-One is His name, a jealous G@D is He!"

Since if a scribe is not careful in his/her work, the letters Dalet & Reysh could be confused, this enlargement is to distinguish "echad" (אֶחָד - "one") from "acheyr" (אַחֵר - "another") in order that by error one should not utter the blasphemy "lo tishtachaveh le-qeyl echad" - "you are not to bow down to the One G@D". Hence one reason for the enlarged Dalet in the Sh'ma. But that's for another article.

The letter Reysh's gematrial value is 200, which also stands for the word "qadmon" (קַדְמוֹן) – primeval archetype. Reysh symbolizes this super-conscious state of mind.

We are the archetypal Reysh, seeking to do teshuvah, return to G@D, the Quf (ק). In its place in the Alefbet, the returning Reysh faces away from but leans towards G@d. This letter represents process - the "art of clarification". This art is the "beginning of the end", ie the three last letters of the Alefbet – Reysh, Shin (שׁ) and Tav (ת) - are the beginning of the end, middle of the end, and end of the end.

Just as the Tzadi (צ) connects to the Quf in its full spelling of tzadiq (צַדִּיק) or tzodeqet (upright man or woman), so the Reysh guides us to the Shin and on to the Tav.

All the ascending levels of revealed wisdom leading us back to their Divine Source in the ShalhevetYah, the holy flame of non-consuming love of G@d for the people Israel.

Ameyn Selah!


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Based on article originally posted on March 16th, 2006 by Soferet Avielah Barclay at Radical Torah
Copyright A. Barclay