The Zohar and the Colors of "Palestine"

From the Zohar, I, 15A, describing the primordial phase of the initiation of creation:

בריש (נ"א, בראשית בחכמתא דמלכא גליף וכו') הורמנותא דמלכא גליף גלופי (נ"א, גליפו) בטהירו עלאה בוצינא דקרדינותא ונפיק גו סתים דסתימו מרישא (נ"א, מרזא) דאין סוף קוטרא (פי' עשן) בגולמא נעיץ בעזקא לא חוור ולא אוכם לא סומק ולא ירוק ולאו גוון כלל

"BREISHITH." "In the beginning" when the Divine being, the King, decided to initiate the manifestation of his will (to create the world), a hard spark made an engraving on the supernal light and this spark emmanted from the most concealed of places, the Ein-Sof, taking a formless shape, and then was inserted into a circle that was neither white, nor black, nor green, nor red nor of any shade...

(Translation based on here).

White, Black, Green, Red?

Those colors sound familiar?

Here:

White, Black, Green, Red - not part of creation.

^

Did You Read the Zohar This Past Week?

Then you would have come across this:



Or, in English:

581. "The staff shall not depart from Yehuda" has been explained by the friends, but "until Shilo come" is spelled with Hei, while in other PLACES IT IS SPELLED SHILO with Vav. This is an indication of the secret of the Holy Name Yud-Hei, for in other places it is spelled Shilo without Hei, or without Yud. Here it is spelled Shiloh with both Yud and Hei, which is the secret of the supernal Holy Name, and means that the Shechinah shall rise FROM HER FALL IN THE EXILE through this name of Yud-Hei, which, as we said, is the mystery of 'who', FOR YAH IS THE NAME OF BINAH, ALSO NAMED 'WHO'.

My Shabbat Dvar Torah

We had three guests for Shabbat, in addition to my father-in-law (89 and four months old). Two Catalans and one Great Neckian.

So, here's my dinner introspection:

Rabbi Mordechai Yosef Leiner of Izbica, the author of Mei Shiloach, who is described as "the person who may well be the single most important Jewish teacher of modern and postmodern Jewish theology of the last five hundred years", comments, in Vol. II, on the verse Genesis 43:29:

And he lifted up his eyes, and saw Benjamin his brother, his mother's son, and said: 'Is this your youngest brother of whom ye spoke unto me?' And he said: 'God be gracious unto thee, my son.'

that what is the essence of the use of the word 'grace' חן is that God agrees with the acts of the man granted this 'grace' (not the Christian theological implication) and provides him with a defence even though there are those who seek to detract from him and accuse him. The Hebrew word for immunity or pardon חנינה shares the same root.

He refers to the Midrash Bereisheet (*) which explains that when Yaakov extended the value of grace to his sons, there were only 11 born at that time.

And when did he do that? When meeting Esav, Genesis 33:5:

And he lifted up his eyes, and saw the women and the children; and said: 'Who are these with thee?' And he said: 'The children whom God hath graciously given thy servant.'

Benjamin was born only afterwards. Lacking in this characteristic of 'grace', of being favored, Yosef stepped in and provided it for his younger brother Benjamin.

Yosef did so because he was able to perceive that in a later period, all the tribes would gather together against Benjamin. The Izibitze Rebbe notes the affair of the Concubine of Givah (as related in Judges 19-21) and suggests that Yaakov declined to extend to Benjamin 'grace' but his brother, son of the same mother, did so, for Yosef was also a Tzaddik and as the Zohar claims - Yosef is called the the Upper Tzaddik and Benjamin is the Lower Tzaddik (in the portion of Vayeitze, Par. 133 in the Sulam division or p. 153B).

The Affair of the Concubine in Givah was resolved here in the valley beneath Shiloh.

And so, we can close the circle.

As we live in Shiloh today, recalling our past and the spiritual and physical contentions, may we gain strength from our forefathers and their example.


__________

(*)

ה] יוסף מארח את אחיו בביתו]

וישאל להם לשלום וגו' ויאמרו שלום וגו'
רבי חייא רבה חמא, חד בבלאי אמר לו: מה עבד אבא?
אמר לו: אמך שאלה בך.
אמר לו: אנא אמר לך כדין, ואת אומר לי כדין!
אמר לו: שואלים על החיים ואין שואלים על המתים.
כך, השלום אביכם, זה יעקב הזקן.
אשר אמרתם, זה יצחק.
ויאמרו שלום לעבדך לאבינו וישא עיניו וירא את וגו'
אמר רבי בנימין: לפי ששמענו חנינה בי"א שבטים, ולא שמענו חנינה בשבט בנימין.
והיכן שמענו?
כאן שמענו, ויאמר: אלהים יחנך בני, וימהר יוסף וגו'

Left, Out (From this week's Zohar commentary

178. He opened the discussion with the verse, "Do not say, I will repay evil" (Mishlei 20:22)[Proverbs]. Come and behold: The Holy One, blessed be He, created man so he would strengthen himself in the Torah and walk the way of truth, staying on the right side and avoiding the left. Because MEN should walk on the right side, they have to increase love between them, AS LOVE IS OF THE RIGHT SIDE, and avoid hatred among them, AS HATRED IS OF THE LEFT SIDE, so as not to weaken the right, which is the place to which Yisrael cleave.


179. Come and behold: For this purpose, the Good Inclination and the Evil Inclination exist. Yisrael should make the Good Inclination master over the evil through good deeds. If a man turns to the left, the Evil Inclination overpowers the good, and the defective one, THE EVIL INCLINATION, is made whole through his sin, for the ugly one only becomes whole through men's sins.


180. A man should therefore be careful lest the Evil Inclination be made whole through his sins. He should always be guarded, to make whole the Good Inclination instead of the evil. Therefore, "Do not say, I will repay (also: 'complete') evil" BECAUSE THROUGH HATRED YOU SHALL INCREASE THE POWER OF THE LEFT AND COMPLETE THE EVIL INCLINATION. Only say, "wait on Hashem, and He will save you."

Source

It's Not the Zohar She's Carrying Now

To understand this picture, read this first.



Ach, she's gone to the dogs.

Let's Take a Comic Relief Break with Britney

First, a laugh:



Next, the background story:

On Saturday morning, Britney - wearing a revealing low-cut dress - drove to a nearby Santa Monica sweet shop to stock up on candy before meeting her sons.

While on her shopping trip, the singer was pictured clutching The Zohar, a book on the teachings of Kabbalah, a mystical offshoot of Judaism.

The star then changed into a tracksuit and grabbed lunch at a Taco Bell takeaway restaurant, before driving to the Malibu home she shared with ex-husband Kevin with her mother and sister to meet Sean and Jayden.

Source

With the Zohar and Magen David wearer companion Jonathan Rotem







Pictures source


Now, some commentary:

a) Try Kosher food, Britney.

b) Try keeping Shabbat.

c) Are you really reading the book or is Jonathan?

d) Try more modest fashion.

e) How does she manage to twist her right foot like that?