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Parasha No.
1
Bereshit: “In the beginning”
(Genesis) 1, 1 - 6, 8 |
I dedicate this portion to those
who study of the Torah
in order to shed light and new life on all creation.
Discover the Torah of Man
With which Sage should one study?
So many commentaries have been written
on Bereshit that this study cannot even claim to be an “introduction.”
The first word, alone, of the Torah is the basis of all 70 chapters
of the Tikkunei haZohar. And I do not even propose to reach
those heights.
I have therefore chosen the prudent
route of basing this Torah study on two commentators and Sages
who have been recognized by every generation and by every community
as the masters of Torah:
Rashi (1040-1105) and Rabbi Yeshayah b. Abraham Hallevi Horowitz
(1560-1630), known as the “Shla hakadosh” after
the acronym of his major work Shnei Louhot HaBrit (Two Tablets
of the Covenant). An additional reason for choosing these two
Sages is that their works cover the entire range of Jewish scholarship
and knowledge; in this way we are sure that we are learning
with those who mastered the entire Torah and have the right to claim:
I am transmitting His Torah, not mine.
These two Sages were also great teachers who knew how teach
the art of studying Torah independently.
I can be no more than their scribe
and meturgeman, the translator-interpreter who transmits their
message in the language of today, and is true to their text.
To achieve this, I also make use of the knowledge I have acquired
of man and his inner self through my professional work as a
psychologist, psychotherapist and anthropologist.
I will therefore separate the commentaries
of the Sages from my own. My commentary aims to show demonstrate
readers the inner work which will allow them to integrate the
Torah into their personal lives. I have therefore placed my
commentary under a separate title of “Personal Meditation
on Bereshit: Elegy on the duo, the Sole Truth.”
The third source on which this commentary
is based is the remarkable commentary of Rabbi Bahya of Saragossa
(dec. circa 1340) on Bereshit, which so wonderfully illuminates
the different levels of meaning in the Torah. Numerous other
masters dot the background, like a field of flowers.
Parasha Bereshit as explained by the Shla (Rabbi Horowitz)
The Shla is pertinent to this commentary
and to the needs of today, because he possessed the special
art of being able to synthesize and integrate all traditions
in one pedagogic method which has the following features:
1. For the written Torah:
in his commentary on the Torah, titled “The Two Tablets
of the Covenant” (Shnei Luhot Habrit), he succeeds in
establishing a clear link and absolute balance between these
three dimensions:
One. the literal meaning of the mitzvot (the peshat);
Two. the inner or hidden meaning (the nistar)
Three. the relational and moral meaning which he calls derekh
hayim.
These three dimensions are resumed in Proverbs 6, 23:
ki ner mitzva veTorah or vederekh hayim tokhehot musar
“ For the commandment is a lamp and the law is light and
reproofs of instruction are the way of life.”
2. The Shla demands the same rigor in knowledge as in practice
and harmony between feelings and intellect and between what
study and life. His pedagogic approach leaves no room for either
for a fundamentalism that is cut off from daily life or for
a permissive approach that omits or adds what it wishes.
In the first part of this commentary, titled Ner mitzva (light
of the commandment), the Shla Hakadosh comments on the literal
meaning (the peshat) of the commandments of Bereshit. He demonstrates
that this parasha contains only one commandment -- the obligation
of peru urevu, (“be fruitful and multiply”, Bereshit
1,28). This obligation is repeated in the second parasha, Noah
(verses 9, 1 and 9, 7).
In the second part, Tora Or (Torah
is light), the Shla discusses the “luminous” meaning
of this commandment and of this parasha, the essence of which
is that:
Parasha Bereshit reveals to us:
• the aim of creation;
• the meaning of the universe and humanity;
• the role which man plays in this creation.
In the third part, titled Derekh
Hayim (way of life), the Shla comments on the great feats of
man and on his errors.
The taam (reason) of the commandment
Be fruitful and multiply
Several meanings are put
forward
1. The first meaning is that the world should
be populated “because it is the desire of Hashem,”
as is written in Isaiah 45,18: “Hashem hath established
it, he created it not in vain (lo tohu), he formed it (veraa)
to be inhabited (lashevet)” with the presence of Hashem,
to know and live by Him.
2. The second one makes this commandment very important because
it includes all the other commandments, for it enables them
to be carried out.
The commandment therefore has a double meaning and is not simply
a matter of numbers or reproduction: it is the precondition
for the presence of Hakadosh Barukh Hu and his presence makes
our world complete.
3. The Torah was not given to angels
but to he who is capable to reproduce and fructify: man.
Man’s Mission
Israel cannot live apart from this
law: as Rashi comments (6,9), the essence of “the generations
and procreations” (toledot) of the righteous (tzaddikim)
are their good deeds (maasim tovim), which enable the realization
of this commandment. Here we have the definition and articulation
of the essence of Judaism.
Another concept which stems from
this is that the main goal and role of the tzaddik is to further
procreation, for the tzaddik puts into practice the plan of
creation, which, as is written in Isaiah, is not a theory but
a presence.
The inner meaning of the commandment
in the plan of creation
From the literal level, we
now proceed to the inner and secret (sod) meaning of the commandment.
Do not imagine that we are going to delve into the Zohar or
other mystical books: the secret meaning of this commandment
is laid out clearly and in detail in the Talmud (Yevamot 63b).
Interpretation by reversal
1. Following a classic technique
of Jewish scholarship, the interpretation is found by reversing
meaning and seeking the opposite sense. Thus, he who does not
procreate is considered “as though he has shed blood,”
which links to Bershit 9,6: “Whoso sheddeth man’s
blood, by man shall his blood be shed.” This illustrates
to what extent Judaism considers the omission to procreate a
crime and a killing.
Why is this omission considered
so grave a sin? Several reasons are put forward.
2. Rabbi Yaakov states that he who
does not procreate, “reduces the image of the creator”
(memaete et ha dmut) and undermines Him, since it is written
that we are made in His image and in His likeness. Bereshit
9,6: ‘‘shofekh dam haadam, baadam damo yishapekh;
ki betselem Elokim assa et haadam; who so sheddeth man’s
blood, by man shall his blood be shed: for in the image of God
made he man.” This is followed immediately by the commandment:
“Be fruitful and multiply,” (Bereshit 9,7). Judaism
has drawn specific and logical conclusions from the juxtapositions
of these three sentences. Without understanding these rules
of interpretation, one cannot understand the Torah. Religious
interpretations which ignore traditional methodology based on
the divine text are superficial ramblings that do not respect
the word of G-d.
3. Tractate Yevamot 64 bases itself
on Leviticus 10,36:
“ When the ark halted, Moses said "shuva Hashem rivevot
alfe Yisrael" - come back, Hashem, myriad thousands of
Israel.” The text does not say: “among the myriad
of thousands,” but “the myriad thousands.”
From this the Sages conclude that the minimum condition for
the presence of the God of Israel is 22000 members. If there
are only 21999, that is, if because only one member has not
carried out the commandment peru urevu, the Presence of G-d
is undermined and cannot be established. It is not a matter
of “numbers” but a matter of “presence.”
The Rule
Rabbi Eliezer concludes from this
that he who does not marry is not an “adam” (kol
adam she en lo isha eno adam). This does not mean he is not
a “man,” but that he has not accomplished what the
Torah defines as “adam.” Bereshit 5,2 tells us that
“male and female created he them…and called their
name Adam.”
The Shla stresses that this is a rule and the guiding principle
on which the above three explanations are based.
Let us examine the rule in more
detail
Explanation of the rule: the divine
nature in Adam
The Shla explains Rabbi Eliezer’s
rule at a higher level of understanding.
The presence of Hashem, which is
spread across His creation, requires a medium through which
His spiritual light can be disseminated. This medium is Adam
who is formed of man and woman and who possesses the attributes
-- desires, aims and wishes -- whose Hebrew names represent
the creator Himself.
The aim of creation is therefore:
• to provide this medium,
• to receive this light,
• to know it,
• to love it.
The Divine Presence in Man and
Woman
Psalm 122,4 describes the tribes
of Israel as “the tribes of Ya” ("shivte Ya"),
the name of God which represents the highest levels accessible
to man and which is found, for example, in hallelu-ya.
These two letters are also found, in different positions, in
the name of man (Ish) and in the name of woman (Isha).
Let us explain what the Shla
means and what his readers are supposed to know:
• In English, as in other languages, the word “man”
has one main meaning.
• In Hebrew the word has two meanings. The highest and
all-encompassing meaning is that of Adam which represents union
and whose numerical value (45) also corresponds to one of the
names of God himself. The other meaning refers to man and woman,
Ish and Isha.
• Both these words have the root “fire’ (esh):
man is given I (letter yud) and woman is given he (letter he),
thus forming the words ish (man) and isha (woman).
• These additions, which are made both to the name of
man and of woman, represent the divine presence without which
one would just be left with the word fire (esh) and these two
creatures would then be a destructive “fire” for
each other. Doted with the divine presence, they form together
the medium for the divine presence. (see Midrash Hizkuni on
Bereshit 2,23). Separately they have only a partial role, for
they can only attain the divine presence if they are truly united,
one with the other in supreme union.
• Returning to the commandment to procreate: it is only
then that man and woman can disseminate the divine presence
in the world through the commandment of procreation; and thus
they will diffuse the fruits from the tree of the life.
Jewish Life
This interpretation helps us to understand
that the meaning of the commandment to procreate is much more
than just a matter of numbers.
We should remember what the Shla
teaches us:
- when we see religious Jewish families with many children;
- when we see young Jewish couples engaging in costly studies,
undertaking several jobs, serving in the army, living in the
most difficult conditions, and raising families without consideration
for its size, for they believe that children represent life
and happiness.
- when we see Jewish couples begin or continue to procreate
at an advanced age, which according to Tractate Yevamot is the
supreme goal of human and divine life.
The challenge of assimilation
These beliefs are specific to Jews and constitute
the essence of Jewish life. They have little in common with
the Western concept of the family and the way Jews relate to
their spouses, to G-d, money, to their ages and their priorities
is totally different to any other religion or culture. This
is what makes the Jewish family so special.
What a Jew should ask himself
On this basis, every Jew should
ask himself if he is living according to the Jewish way of life
or if he is on the long road of assimilation towards another
culture. The physical annihilation of Jews is well known, but
there are also mental and spiritual forms of annihilation which
are very subtle and often carried out in the name of freedom
or progress.
The Shla poses this very question
when he states that if a Jew is not dedicated to the mission
of procreation and to living in the image of G-d, he is in what
is called sitra demota -- the path of death and shedding of
blood.
God, Torah and Israel
The man who accepts and follows
this divine path is a true Adam whose name is Israel and the
Torah is what aids him in this mission. This is why the three
elements (God, Torah and Israel) possess the same nature and
likeness. Every Jewish man and woman participates directly in
this triangular dynamic when he or she carries out the commandments
that govern our bodies, minds, heart and soul. It is through
the physical renewal of our bodies through procreation and through
good deeds that the divine mission is accomplished.
The basis for all of this is called brit, the covenant.
Suggestions for Personal Development
The laws set out the Sages for the
entire Jewish people, are relevant for every Jewish man and
woman.
I recommend re-reading the parasha
in the perspective of this study.
This story of creation is neither
a popular children’s tale or mythical fable – it
is an extremely precise and elaborate text of which we have
studied just an infinitesimal part. .
The Shla’s prayer
I invite readers to read the Shla’s prayer which can be
found at the end of this commentary, before my personal meditation.
It is a prayer that symbolizes all that is important in Judaism.
The Rest of the Torah
Parasha Bereshit is the supreme
foundation on which the Torah is based. The lives of every patriarch
and matriarch in the Bible serve to demonstrate this, as we
will see in subsequent parashiot.
In the third part of his study (Derekh
Hayim), the Shla asks us to study and examine the behavior and
attibutes (middot) of these great figures, so that we can imitate
them in our lives: maase avot simane labbanim (the actions of
fathers serve as instructions for children).
Reading material on the commandment:
Be Fruitful and Multiply:
In the Torah
Be fruitful (peru)
Bereshit (Genesis): 1,22: 1,28; 9,1 & 7; 8,17; 35,11; 28,3;
49,4; 49,22.
Vayikra (Leviticus): 26,9.
Neviim (Prophets): Jeremiah: 3,16; 23;3.Ezekiel: 36,11
Tehilim (Psalms): 105,24; (wife) 128,3.
Talmud
Tractate Yevamot, 60 onwards.
Halakha
Sefer Hammitzvot (Book of mitzvot) 212
Mishneh Torah: Nashim Ishut: 15, 1-2
Shulhan Arukh: Even Haezer, first part.
Points of Reference
1. Number of letters, words....in
Bereshit (Genesis)
LETTERS Torah 304 805 Bereshit 78 064
WORDS Torah 79 847 Bereshit 20 512
VERSES Torah 5 845 Bereshit 1 534
SECTIONS Torah 187 Bereshit 50
2. Generations, years, age
1st generation: Adam (…- 930 = 930 years)
10th generation: Noah (1056-2006 = 950 years) (Bereshit 9,20)
20th generation: Avraham (1948-2123 = 175 years) (Bereshit
25,7)
26th generation: Moses (2368-2488 = 120 years).
(Comparison: year 5768=2008)
These are the precise figures and dates for the first 26 generations
till Moshe Rabbenu. (26 is also the numerical value of the Name
of Hashem.)
Adam was:
• 130 years old when Seth was born (Bereshit 5, 3-5).
Abraham was:
• 58 and Sarah 48 at the death of Noah
• 75 when he was given the order to leave Haran
• 86 when Ishmael was born (Bereshit 16,16)
• 99 when El Shaddai spoke to him.
• 99 when he circumcized himself and his son Ishmael.
• 100 when Yitzhak was born (Bereshit 21,5)
In order to understand these calculations,
read Rashi on Bereshit 5, 32 & 7, 4 & 10, 21 and particularly
on 25, 20 and 28, 9.
3. The “notarikon”
This is an acronym based on the initials of words. Thus the
letters alef, dalet, mem in the name Adam stand for God’s
plan for mankind: alef is Adam; dalet is David; and mem is the
Messiah.
4. Questions.
- How often does the word “or” (light) appear in
the story of the creation? What is the significance of this
number and the symbols it represents?
- How often does the word Elokim appear in the story of the
creation?
- What was created each day?
- What food was given to man?
- How many mitzvot are there in the book of Bereshit:
Parasha Bereshit (1,28): be fruitful and multiply.
Parasha Lekh Lekha (17,10): Circumcision.
Parasha Vayishlakh (32,33): Do not eat the hollow of the thigh.
These three commandments are the basis of all the other commandments.
Prayer of the Shla Hakadosh for One’s
Children
You are Hashem, our G-d, before
You created the world
and You are Hashem, our G-d, after Your created the world.
Forever and ever You are our G-d.
You created Your world so that your divinity would be revealed
through Your divine Torah,
as our Sages said (may their memory be blessed):
“ Bereshit, in the beginning for the Torah and for Israel”
For they are Your people and Your inheritance which You chose
above all people.
And You gave them Your holy Torah
and brought them close to Your great name.
Because of the creation of the world and the creation of the
Torah
we received from You, Hashem our G-d, two commandments:
You wrote in Your Torah: Be fruitful and multiply,
and You wrote in Your Torah: And you shall teach them your children,
and the meaning of both of them is one and the same.
You did not create the world in vain but to be inhabited,
and for Your honor You created, You formed and You also made
so that we, our children
and the children of all Your people Israel
will know Your Name and learn Your Torah.
Therefore, Hashem, King of kings
of kings, I will come to You
and will beg You, my eyes raised to You,
to have compassion and hear my prayer
and bestow on me sons and daughters
that they shall too shall be fruitful and multiply,
they, their children and their children’s children,
until the end of all generations,
so that they and I, and we all
should engage in the study of Your holy Torah
to learn and teach, to guard, to do,
and to fulfill all the words of study of Torah with love.
Enlighten our eyes to Your Torah
and bring our hearts to cling to Your mitzvot,
to love and fear Your Name.
Our Father, merciful Father,
grant us all long life endowed with blessings.
Who is like You,
merciful Father who remembers His creatures
and gives them life in Your compassion?
Remember us for eternal life,
as Avraham, our father, prayed:
“that he may live before Thee.”
And our Rabbis (may their memory be blessed) interpreted this
as
“ in fear of You.”
Therefore, I have come to ask and
beg before You that my children
and my children’s children shall be, eternally, worthy.
That there shall not be in me or
in my children
or in my children’s children, for all time, anything unfitting.
Only peace and truth, goodness and justice
in the eyes of G-d and in the eyes of man.
May they be masters of Torah,
masters of the written Law, masters of Mishna, masters of Talmud,
masters of kabbala, masters of mitzvot,
masters of hessed,
masters of noble character,
and may they serve You with love and true fear,
not with false fear.
Grant each one of them all that
he needs with honor,
give them health, honor and strength,
give them stature, beauty, grace and kindness.
May there be love, brotherhood and peace between them.
Bestow on them worthy spouses
from the offspring of the “talmidei hahamim, students
of the sages”
and from the offspring of the “tzaddikim, the righteous
ones.”
And may their spouses be like them in all that I have prayed
for them,
for they are all one for eternity.
You, Hashem, know all the secrets
of the heart
and before You is revealed all that is in my heart.
For my purpose in all this
is for the sake of Your great and holy Name and for Your holy
Torah.
Therefore answer me, Hashem, answer me
for the sake of our sacred fathers Avraham, Yitzhak and Yaakov
and for them save the sons, that the branches shall resemble
the roots.
And for David, your servant, the fourth wheel of the divine
chariot,
the poet who sang with divine inspiration:
“Song of Degrees: fortunate
are all who fear Hashem,
who walk in His way.
The toil of your hands, you will eat the fruit thereof
and it will bring happiness and be good for you.
Your wife is like a fruitful vine within your house,
your sons are like olive plants around your table.
Behold, thus will be blessed the man who fears Hashem.
He will bless you, Hashem, from Zion.
See in the good of Jerusalem all the days of your life.
And see your sons of your sons; peace over Israel.”
Please, Hashem, who hears prayer
fulfill in us the verse:
“ As for me, this is my covenant with them, saith Hashem,
my spirit that is upon thee, and my words which I have put in
they mouth,
shall not depart out of thy mouth, nor out of the mouth of thy
seed,
nor out of the mouth of thy seed’s seed,
saith Hashem, from henceforth and for ever.”
May the words of my mouth and the thoughts of my heart
be favorable before You, Hashem, my rock and my savior.
Personal Meditation
on the commandments of the Sages
Elegy on the duo, the sole truth
Man’s perpetual search to reduce the meaning of love.
Man’s perpetual search to reduce the duo to one.
The essence of Torah is Love.
The impossible task.
Never cease to listen.
The figures confirm the message.
It is only in a marital or inter-personal
relationship that man is shielded from the destructive tohu
vohu (hurly-burly) of life and can function without succumbing
to the dictatorship of the “I.”
HaKadosh Barukh Hu (The Holy and
Blessed one) is One: He has placed us in a world based on the
number 2, but our erring ways have led us to aspire to the level
of One, which is solely that of Hashem.
The emphasis on the number 2 is
clearly seen in the capital letter beit (2) of Bereshit.
Let us see how the Torah perceives
and portrays marital and inter-personal life.
Man’s constant efforts to
reduce the meaning of Love
In Psalm 62, 11, David writes: “God
hath spoken once; twice have I heard this: that power belongeth
unto God.” (Read text.)
A commentary of the Sages says:
Elokim spoke all 10 sayings with just one expression but Israel,
in its human weakness, did not fully hear him and only grasped
the first two…
It is said in Shir haShirim, 1,2 (Song of Songs): “let
him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth,” but Israel
reduced the kisses to two, to the first two words, because they
could not tolerate more (miut rabim shnaim .. lefi she lo yeholu
lisbol).
The Sages note three constant truths
in human behavior:
1) we always reduce the essence of life;
2) the essence of Torah is Hashem’s gift to man;
3) the essence of life is love.
The characteristic of human behavior
is a process of constriction, of miut (diminution), repression,
and willful or unconscious deafness.
Man’s constant efforts to
reduce the duo to “1”
In a similar way, people are engaged
today in a brutal and violent struggle to reduce and subjugate
the “other” person to their own “self”—to
their power, money, ideology, ideals and needs. This can be
seen in sibling relations and in parent-child relations. This
is also so in marital relations, where love and tenderness are
constantly tested by fatigue, worries, daily pre-occupations
and the inability to listen to the other. What should be 2 is
thus reduced to “1” which is “I.” This
constitutes a form of idolatry in which we are the center of
worship.
It is often only after cruel disappointments
and sorrows that we become aware of this. And yet many are unable
to change this way of being and remain tyrants or egoists in
their personal relationships, defining the happiness of others
in terms of their own needs. Change, though slow, can be achieved
by working on the self with the help and support of professionals.
The essence of the Torah is Love
Many answers can and have been given
to the question “What is the center and essence of Torah?”
-- study, prayer, devotion, belief, mitzvot, the nation, the
land, etc. But the real answer is ahava (love) whose Hebrew
letters contain a world of instruction.
The obligation to recite every day
Shema Yisrael Adonai Elokenu Adonai Ehad (Hear O’Israel
The Lord our God, The Lord is One) clearly demonstrates to us
that love is the center of Torah.
In the Sheema, the gematria for the word Ehad (one ) is the
same (13) as the gematria for ahava (love), and ehad is preceded
and followed by the word ahava: this confirms the absolute primacy
of love in the message of the Torah. “One” must
give place to “Two” which is love. The message is
clear and precise and needs no further commentary in order to
be understood.
This is what the Sages wish to impart
when they say: “it is said in Shir haShirim (Song of Songs):
“let him embrace me with the kisses of his mouth’
which is confirmed at the end of Psalm 62, verse 12: “uleha
adonai hessed, Also unto thee, O Lord, belongeth mercy.”
The Impossible Task
The full significance of the 10
sayings is hard for us to grasp. We tend to seek unity primarily
through the symbol two.
Two is the basis of love and is
seen in the reciprocal need of one partner for the other. Not
for nothing did the creator want us to see with two eyes and
hear with two ears: our contact with reality is inherently a
dual and complementary process in which the one meets the other.
I am one and two at the same. The true basis of our relationship
with reality is not a mathematical equation but love. That is
why we say we must listen with our ears (two, not one) and we
should also be heard in the same way. God gave Adam a double
unity, masculine and feminine.
Study and the shared life have the
same aim. Both help us to discover this basic duality, which
is the true essence of man. As is written in Psalm 22 we achieve
this first by listening. Learning to do so is a lengthy process.
Listening takes time
The limitations of human nature
make it impossible for us to comprehend immediately everything
we absorb and hear from the other: what is important is to know
how to receive and truly listen. We hear something once, but
we need to continue to listen to what we have heard and to show
the one we love that we are listening.
We must continue to savor what was
said or heard, just like we slowly savor a sweet in order to
relish all its different tastes, instead of swallowing it in
one go We must listen and become sensitive to the words of the
other which, like a perfume, slowly changes in quality and intensity.
When we (as the other) discover
we are being listened to, we know we are loved.
I call this type of listening -
to the multitude of meanings and levels encompassed in the words
or attitudes of the other - “listening to the dreams”
of the other.
He who feels loved in this way,
feels loved not only at the level of desire and satisfaction,
but feels he is a rich and “varied” being. He is
neither “possessed” nor limited, enclosed or restrained,
but exists and develops through words that are listened to and
loved. The Song of Songs has shown us the extraordinary breadth
of the word ahava which represents the model for, the content
of, the relationship with and the very nature of Hashem, all
of which He tries to communicate to man through His closeness,
silences and distancing.
Since this is the nature of the
relationship of the Creator with Israel, as interpreted by Rashi
in his commentary on the Song of Songs, and since He created
man in His image and His likeness, then it is clear that this
is also the nature of all our relationships, particularly those
with our partners.
The figures confirm the message
The Torah knows that some of us
are more sensitive to images, some to historical narrative,
some to letters, and some to figures. This why the message of
the Torah is transmitted in every one of these ways.
Let us now examine this meditation
through figures.
The Sages point out that, in order
to emphasize the importance of the symbol “two,”
the entire Torah begins with the letter beit (2) and not with
the letter aleph (1).
Beit is the second letter of the Hebrew alphabet and it has
a value of 2 in Hebrew calculation (letters instead of numerals
are used to calculate in Hebrew). The basic truth inherent in
the symbol 2 is therefore seen as forming the basis of the entire
universe and of all relations.
In contrast, the figure 1 is only
meaningful in the context of the divine plan. At a human level,
the figure 1 is fallacious, illusory and false. It symbolizes
certainty, preconceptions, dogmatic judgments, false theories,
and political bodies which use all kinds of pseudo-logical arguments
to abrogate rights and powers over others. The figure 1 is only
valid at the level of God. When man claims it for himself, he
enters the domain of the sheker, the lie.
In order to stress this message,
the Sages note that the first verse of the Torah bereshit bara
elokim et (in the beginning God created) begins with bet (2)
and the final letters of the first three words form the word
emet (truth) whose gematria (1+4+4 - letters are counted in
simple digits excluding zeros) is 9, whereas the gematria for
the word sheker (lie) is 6 (3+1+2).
This is even more fully confirmed
by examining the order of the Hebrew alphabet beginning with
2. The addition of the letters in groups of three consistently
gives a total of 9 which represents truth, emet (1+4+4 = 9):
bet gimmel dalet (2+3+4 = 9)
he vav zayin (5+6+7 = 18 i.e. 8+1 = 9)
het tet yud (8+9+10 = 27 i.e. 2+7 = 9)
kaf lamed mem (2+3+4 = 9)
nun samek ayin (5+6+7 = 18 i.e. 8+1 = 9)
pe tzaddik kuf (8+9+1 = 18 i.e. 8+1 = 9)
resh shin tav (2+3+4 = 9)
In contrast, if one proceeds according
to alphabetical order, beginning with the letter aleph (1),
the same addition in groups of three consistently gives a total
of 6 which represents falsehood, sheker (3+1+2 = 6).
alef bet gimmel (1+2+3 = 6)
dalet he vav (4+5+6 = 15 i.e. 1+5 = 6)
zayin het tet (7+8+9 = 24 i.e. 2+4 = 6)
yud kaf lamed (1+2+3 = 6)
mem nun samek (4+5+6 = 15 i.e. 1+5 = 6)
ayin pe tzaddik (7+8+9 = 24 i.e. 2+4 = 6)
kuf resh shin (1+2+3 = 6)
This is not proof through numbers. The Hebrew language simply
possesses a special gift of being able to demonstrate absolute
logic and consistency between the content of Torah the structure
of its language, and the organization of its narrative. The
above is not an intellectual exercise or game but an enlightened
way of reading the Torah, with each connection confirming and
completing the overall message. Tradition transmits these connections
in words, numbers and content. There is no place for personal
and imaginary interpretations. This is what tradition teaches
us.
This numerical demonstration confirms
that the entire Torah is based on the figure 2 and this is reflected,
as we noted at the beginning of this meditation, in verse 11
of Psalm 22:
“Elokim has spoken once;
twice have I heard this: that power belongeth unto Elokim.
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