Erev Shabbat

“…AND, the First Runner Up: (pause) IS: (pause) Balaam’s Ass”


Ladies and Gentlemen… Tonight’s Award for Second Place, for a talking animal in the Torah; goes to Balaam’s Donkey. Next year, when we again begin to read the Torah from Bereshit, we will encounter that animal who takes away First Place. If… you don’t know who that is you will have to wait until: MID-October.

But: On With Tonight’s Award! This donkey did not make an ass of itself with this performance. NO! This was a part full of drama, suspense, and considerable mystery. And our award winner certainly filled the part well; remaining silent in the face of adversity and letting the tension build until finally it explodes with that memorable line; “What have I done to you that you have beaten me these three times?" And again that famous line that shows that the donkey is more than a little upset: "Look, I am the donkey that you have been riding all along until this day! Have I been in the habit of doing this to you?" she says. What pathos this poor animal pours out in just those twenty-nine words! Let me tell you, Ladies and Gentlemen; the Academy had a very hard time choosing between First and Second place this year.

Of course, you can say that Shreck’s donkey had a lot more to say but never did he speak from the heart and reach out to us like this donkey did! By now, my friends, you know the story: Balak is worried about the Nation of Israel and calls upon Balaam to curse them – Our Ancestors! Well, Balaam was not going to take that kind of commission without approval from his superior: HaShem.

But then, I ask, why would G-d condone Balaam's trip in one instant and then condemn it the next? But before we go into that part of the story, let’s look at the film clip where Balaam was riding on his donkey when all of the sudden: "The donkey caught sight of the angel of the L-rd standing in the way, with his drawn sword in his hand!
The donkey, of course, swerved from the road and went into the fields; and Balaam beat his donkey to turn her back onto the road."
This occurs again! The donkey sees the fiery angel of G-d blocking the path and swerves off the path to try to avoid it. Balaam does not appear to see this angel, and each time he hits the donkey until the donkey veers back onto the desired course. The third time the donkey sees the angel, the donkey lies down and stops moving. This infuriates Balaam, who begins beating the donkey. And then… something strange happens. The donkey talks. She asks Balaam, "What have I done to you that you have beaten me these three times?" Perhaps even stranger is the fact that Balaam responds to the donkey as if it were normal that the donkey spoke to him. Balaam responds that the donkey has embarrassed him so much that if he had a sword he would kill the donkey on the spot. Obviously the donkey is, as I said before, very upset by this and puts Balaam in his place by saying, "Look, I am the donkey that you have been riding all along until this day! Have I been in the habit of doing this to you?" Of course, Balaam can only sheepishly respond "no," and then he sees the angel for the first time and truly understands his error.

There is much that can be said about the story of Balaam and his donkey and many questions that need to be answered. Maimonides, a medieval Jewish philosopher, suggests that the entire incident was a prophetic vision, and none of it really happened. But we need to stop for a moment here and think about this.

As I said before, this is not the only animal with a speaking part in Torah. In the different situations we have the following things to consider:
1. An animal is using human speech,
2. The human, in each situation, does not consider it unusual.
3. The human responds to the animal, and…
4. The animal again speaks.
What’s going on here? I know that when I lived in Japan, I encountered dogs that seemed to understand Japanese but not English – but then they did not talk back either (at least in human voices).

Is this something like Greek Theatre with gods speaking to humans from off-stage? Or is it something that Disney’s Imagineering thought-up and went back and pasted it into the Bible?

HaShem, we know can do just anything He wants… but what is He teaching us here with a taking donkey? A donkey with such reasoning power and emotions?

Let’s look at what Nachmanides, a medieval commentator, suggests. He says that the donkey did in fact talk to Balaam to remind him and future readers that G-d can control even a human's most basic functions. The ability to speak is something that G-d can give even to a donkey and that if G-d can give speech to a donkey then G-d can take speech away from humans.

The Sforno, a Renaissance-era Bible commentator, takes a different approach. He suggests that the story is really about paying attention to signs. The behavior of the donkey should have been a sign to Balaam that what he was about to do was not good in the eyes of G-d. However, I think that at its most basic level this story of Balaam and his donkey is about two very important things. First and foremost, it is about the power and importance of words. Words have the ability to build up or break down, to heal or to hurt, to bless or to curse. The fact that Balaam is seemingly unaware of the power he has to hurt people through his words is what infuriates G-d. We are all given permission by G-d to say whatever we wish. The gift of speech and communication is unlike any other gift that G-d has given us, but it is one that must be treated with respect and with the cognizance of the power it has. And, I might add, that the power to communicate is not always limited to the verbal. And just as words have the power to heal or to hurt, so to are voices of communication found in painting, the written word as prose or poetry, and even, perhaps, in the different forms of dance! But this Parshat, this donkey, this… this is about speech.

Perhaps more importantly, this is a story about trust. Balaam is too consumed with being embarrassed in front of the messengers of Balak who are accompanying him on his journey to "listen" to the advice and warnings of one of his most trusted allies. The donkey may be an animal incapable of speech, perhaps forgotten or taken for granted, but ultimately, the donkey is the only one who can truly see everything that lies in front of her master. The question of who is really the master in this story is an interesting one and leads to one final thought.

In life we can often get stuck on the proverbial high horse and forget that our most trusted companions - and even sometimes the people in our lives who we think cannot possibly see or understand what we are going through - - they are the people with the clearest vision and the people whom we can trust the most. Not everyone will be called upon in life to be a leader or a prophet like Balaam, but it is important to remember that sometimes the most unlikely of people have the clearest vision and are the most capable of leading us in the right direction.

Shabbat Shalom, and I hope that in each Shabbat that you find, is filled with happiness, clarity of vision and trust in those who help you get from one place to the next on your own life journey.

Don’t be an ass. Listen to those people in your life that mean so much to you, and don’t think that they are an ass for wanting to be in your life too.


I share credit for these thoughts with Reuben Posner, Fellow at Hillel's Joseph Meyerhoff Center for Jewish Learning

beginning 2 end

Parshas Shlach
The Connection between the Beginning and the End of the Parsha

Adapted from Rabbi Yissocher Frand, “…on the weekly portion.”

This parsha begins with the story of the sending out of the Spies, and ends with the mitzvah of Tzitzis [fringes on the corners of a four- cornered garment]. There is a word that is used several times in this parsha, in different grammatical formulations, that is a rather uncommon word in the Torah overall. In the beginning of the parsha, the verse reads, "Send out men that they might spy out (v'yasuru) the Land of Canaan" [Bamidbar 13:12]. That same word is used at the end of the parsha in the mitzvah of Tzisis. "And you shall not stray (v'lo sasuru) after your hearts and eyes that lead you astray" [Bamidbar 15:39].
This irony is not lost on Rashi or on any other classic Torah commentary. It is too striking to be overlooked. Rashi comments: The heart and the eyes are "spies" for the body, procuring sins for it. The eye sees, the heart desires, and the body sins. In other words there is a deep connection between the tragic mission of the spies and the warning against straying after one's heart and eyes.
The Shemen HaTov suggests that there is a more profound connection. Rashi uses the expression "the eye sees and the heart desires (ha'ayin ro-eh v'halev chomed)." If indeed the sequence is that the eye sees, the heart desires, and then the body sins, why doesn't the pasuk [verse] read: "you shall not stray after your eyes and your heart"? The sequence of the pasuk is the reverse -- "you shall not stray after your heart and after your eyes!"
Apparently it does begin in the heart! How so? The answer is that all of us were born with a conscience. For most of us that conscience is still active. Before we do something we are not supposed to do, our conscience gives us problems. A little voice in our head announces: "Don't go there. Don't do this. This is not for you. Stay away."
How do we get beyond that nagging voice? We get beyond that nagging voice by using our uncanny ability to rationalize. We rationalize the voice away. We can make up the greatest excuses and we can turn virtually every sin into a mitzvah. "I need it. I have to have it. I'm down. I'm depressed. I'm poor. I'm this, I'm that, whatever. It will be good for me."
This is what we do. To accomplish this rationalization we need a heart. We need the heart-triggered process to somehow turn that sin into a mitzvah. This is the sequence of "do not stray after your hearts and your eyes." True, as Rashi says, it physically starts with the eyes. But psychologically it must go first through the heart. The heart has to "permit it" for us through its illogical process of rationalization. [In Judaism, the seat of understanding and reason is the heart. ed.]
This is precisely what happened with the 10 spies (all except for Yehoshua and Kalev). They were sent on a mission to view Eretz Yisrael. They all came back with a negative report. What was their problem? Why did they view everything that could have been viewed in a positive light, in a negative light instead? The answer, the commentaries tell us, is that they rationalized.
Either they saw themselves in a position of leadership and sensed that when they were settled in Eretz Yisrael they would lose that leadership, or life in the desert was too cozy. They would get up in the morning and find their Manna. They did not need to worry about their clothes wearing out. They did not need to worry about shelter. They did not need to worry about digging or planting. They did not need to worry about farming or earning a living. In the Wilderness, they were worry-free. Such a life was not easy to give up.
Whatever their logic, it was their rationalization and their fear –- all triggered by their heart -– that perverted their actions. This is the connection between the words "v'yasuru es Eretz Canaan" at the beginning of the parsha and the "v'lo sasuru achrei levavchem v'achrei eineichem" at the end of the parsha.
We need to be constantly on guard lest our hearts stray and turn -- through rationalization -- every sinful matter into a mitzvah.
Good Shabbos!

In Jewish tradition…

In Jewish tradition, Moses is considered the greatest prophet who ever lived. The Bible tells us that as the Israelite's camped below, Moses ascended Mt. Sinai and received the word of G-d. We Jews call the act of G-d revealing the words to his people ‘the act of revelation’.

Now, according to Rabbi Ron Isaacs’s, Ask the Rabbi, with regard to ‘revelation’ (on Shavout) the most commonly asked questions are: What really happened? How do we know for sure that it was G-d who spoke to Moses? (and not his imagination) Even if G-d did in fact speak, how can we be sure that the Israelite's understood (correctly)? And: after these many years (3321 in 2009), how do we know that the words that we have today are the (exact) same words?

Briefly: Orthodox Jews generally believe that G-d revealed His will on the mount in written and verbal form. This (all) being later committed to writing [Talmud] by rabbis who were divinely inspired. How, he says, is still a mystery? But for the Orthodox, it remains fact that we received Torah directly from G-d.

Conservative Judaism, he relates (seemingly ex cathedra [to mix languages]) the ‘nature’ of G-d’s communication is understood in various ways. For some His communications with mortals at Sinai and in the era of the prophets were direct. Humans (then) wrote these down and the writings are included in the Bible reflecting different origins. Another Conservative position posits that Moses and other humans were divinely inspired with a specific message (&) wrote the Torah at various places and times. [This concept, however, originated with a (much) ‘later’ Christian scholar and was then accepted by others as ‘the’ way it happened ed.]

Reconstructionists generally believe that humans wrote the Torah, claiming no divinity for the product. The Reform position also maintains that the torah is G-d’s will as written by human beings! He completes his comments by saying that “we do not know, nor can anyone ever really know, exactly what Moses or the people at Sinai actually heard saw, or felt”. Many of the words (rabbi’s words) used in the Bible’s descriptions of revelation are figurative (duh). The Bible speaks of fire, smoke, the voice of a horn (shofar, perhaps?), and lightning to give us some idea as to what it was like to hear G-d’s voice. In the end, though, Rabbi Isaacs says, they could only refer to having experienced the greatness of the presence of G-d.

Nu?

Where does that leave us?

If we are members of a Conservative synagogue, it appears that we can “pick and choose” as we wish. But without the freedom – or rather: liberty – to do as the Reconstructionists and/or Reform(ed) do. But it ultimately comes back to ‘you’. You, yourself, must, of course, begin with a determination that you (ultimately and forever) believe in HaShem. If, indeed, you do believe that there is (A) G-d, that there always has been and always will be (A) G-d, then I venture to say that it really does not matter what you think about how we received the Torah and how the Prophets were able to write what they wrote. The fact is that we got it. And we have it. And it is immutable. And it matters not what you think – the Torah is there before you – it exists.

The real question is rather: what do you accept? Do you really want to follow the rabbis’ pilpul? If you find it hard – or impossible – to accept that there is a power greater than yourself, then perhaps you should not be going to synagogue at all. If mankind can conquer the universe, or if you think that perhaps on some distant planet that there is a super race of cockroaches that can travel through time and space and control a parallel universe; then maybe you should spend your time as a screen-writer and forget about the Torah and how we got it. For you, man devised all these various laws and was able to make extremely sophisticated connections between numbers and letters and devise a codex that encompassed over 5769 years of human (and only human) thinking, acting, creating, developing… but still cannot find a way for men to live together without wars, famine, and illness. Go on. Go back and think: What do you believe, what do you accept? Then, you can see that these first questions were non-sequitur.

musings & twisting paperclips

The glory of G-d is to conceal a thing. The glory of a king is to find it out,
The glory of a talmidah chachamah is a light.

Thoughts on: Chashmal, as encountered in [Ezekiel 1:27]

Chashmal
Rabbi Geoffrey W. Dennis
(It is) the mysterious substance or entity illuminating the heart of Ezekiel's chariot vision. The Talmud treats the word as a notaricon (a word that can be broken into multiple words), the division of which reveals two words, "words" and "quiet." Thus the heart of divinity is a matrix of silence and speech from which creation emanates (Chag. 14b).
According to Midrash Konen, chasmal is the fiery substance which makes up the pillars on which the world rests. Gematria yields several different equivalences: dimyon tzivonim, "image of colors," ki zohar aish "like a fiery splendor," neither of which are terribly edifying. But even these cryptic analyses can only approximate the truth. Those who truly comprehend the significance of chasmal place themselves in mortal danger (Chag. 13a). Midrash Konen attempts to resolves the confusion by designating chashmal another class of angelic being (2:25).
Article copyright 2004 Geoffrey Dennis.
There has been little commentary on this word/passage because of its great Spiritual depth and significance. It has entered the realm of Kabbalah and it was not even taught publicly but was only individually explained to the most highly qualified people. So if you do encounter a commentary, or explanation [“Trust me, I know…”], you should view it with considerable skepticism.
…ain’t Kilroy
What does ‘Amen’ mean? Some claim that it is made up (an acronym) of three Hebrew words El Melech Ne’eman, meaning: G_d is the Faithful King.
A Blessing upon seeing a friend after a lapse of 12 months (or more): “Blessed be G_d who revives the dead.”
HeShem’s Own Prayer (as conceived by Rabbi Zutra, in the name of Rav Yachanan): “May it be My will that My mercy overcome my anger, and My loving qualities override My strict traits; that I treat My children with the quality of mercy & that I always deal with them beyond the letter of the law.”
We know that it is a custom to recite the prayer known as Asher Yatzar after going to the bathroom – the idea is to remind us that even a routine like attending to the ‘call of nature’ is not only wondrous but should remindÁus that without being able to do so we would certainly die! Our body is, after all, only on loan to us (on loan to our soul, which is our ‘being’) and it really belongs to HaShem, as does our soul itself. This prayer also reminds me of the relationship to another prayer from our morning services: “Barukh atah HaShem Elokanu, Melekh HaOlmam she’asah le kol tzarkey.” – not to mention the passage from “Mighty Deeds”: “…Who provides the living with kindness, resurrects the dead with abundant mercy, supports those who fall and heals the sick… “. There is, indeed, a unity to our siddurim, and it is there to be found by those who seek it.

Torah Portion: Nasso Numbers 4:21 - 7:89

Full Kriyah
Triennial Year I
07 June 2008 Triennial Year II
06 June 2009 Triennial Year III
22 May 2010
1: 4:21-37 (17 p'sukim)
2: 4:38-49 (12 p'sukim)
3: 5:1-10 (10 p'sukim)
4: 5:11-6:27 (48 p'sukim)
5: 7:1-41 (41 p'sukim)
6: 7:42-71 (30 p'sukim)
7: 7:72-89 (18 p'sukim)
maf: 7:87-89 (3 p'sukim)
1: 4:21-24
2: 4:25-28
3: 4:29-33
4: 4:34-37
5: 4:38-49
6: 5:1-4
7: 5:5-10
maf: 5:8-10
1: 5:11-15
2: 5:16-26
3: 5:27-6:4
4: 6:5-8
5: 6:9-15
6: 6:16-21
7: 6:22-27
maf: 6:22-27
1: 7:1-11
2: 7:12-23
3: 7:24-35
4: 7:36-47
5: 7:48-59
6: 7:60-71
7: 7:72-89
maf: 7:87-89

Haftarah: Judges 13:2 - 13:25

Art is merkava,

Unauthorized Use, the Hubble pps, and more

Unauthorized Use Constitutes Theft
From Rabbi Avraham Twersky, sort of

A few weeks ago we prempted (as it were) this week’s Parshat [Nasso] (asn). This week we learn from Torah that: “And they shall confess their sins which they have perpetrated, and he shall make restitution for his sin”. Before we discuss this one little bit of learning, let’s go back to what we talked about before:


Theft, The Evil of
Last week we read in Parshat Kedoshim, “Do not steal…”
The Gemara says that, “One may not steal from another even if one only wants to annoy him (!), and really intends to return the stolen item”. If the victim has even one moment of aggravation it is not permitted. One who steals will ultimately lie, swear falsely and desecrate the Divine Name. It concludes with the comment that one chet (sin) leads to another.

And yet there is another sin which – if possible – is worse. That is: when you steal from yourself. Think of it in this manner; you are in business and there is a convention of your industry chiefs. It is a prime opportunity for you to “network” and to present a paper which will contribute to both the benefit of mankind and yourself. Instead, you sit at the bar for one last bit of “Dutch Courage” and miss several minutes of opportunity which will never again occur. You have stolen from yourself. And further- you arise early each morning, have your breakfast and take your coffee in the other room and turn on the TV instead of picking up your copy of the Chumash and learning this week’s Parshat. You have stolen from yourself again and this time you have stolen an opportunity to improve yourself (literally) ‘body-and-soul’!

Well, now I need to tell you about the amazing “pps” that I recently received entitled “Hubble”. This presented pictures from Deep Space taken by the remarkable bit of space-age hardware, the Hubble telescope. And as I sat in my garden this morning; temperature in the low 70’s, the sky a cerulean blue, the trees in bud, the birds singing… I thought back to those pictures that are from ‘places’ in space millions of light-years away… pictures of history, if you will and I thought: “HaShem, what wonders you have wrought, things beyond mankind’s wildest imagination.” And then I thought about our fleeting lifespan on this spacecraft ‘earth’. Why, do we steal from ourselves? Why don’t we learn when we study Torah? And R. Twersky relates what Chazal have told us: “A person does not ‘sin’ unless he is overtaken by a spirit of folly.” So: Are we just all a bunch of ‘nut cases’? And even if we are, we are accountable for our actions. We don’t have the liberty to live our lives hedonistically – according to the sundry whims that capture our mind. Our souls [and are we not a soul first and a person – a body – secondarily?] are on loan from HaShem and we have a (some) specific purpose and that is firstly to do His will and follow his commandments.

Take, for example, Kashrut. People have long tried to “justify” Kashrut as a set of laws given to us to protect us from ills (to protect our health), as the prohibition of eating pork. To avoid trichinosis, et. al. – and so, these people tell us that with modern health codes we don’t need to be concerned with following these ‘out-of-date’ rules or laws. This is an example of the “laws of ignorant opinions authoritatively stated,” [in politics and religion: the less a person know the more authoritatively s/he speaks…] but the truth is simply that these laws (kashrut) are filled with moral meanings; they are a code of ethics! We are told not to eat a limb torn from a living animal, not to drink the blood of the animal for the blood is “LIFE” itself, we are told that “I am Ad-nai, your G_d. Sanctify yourselves and be holy, for I am the L*rd that brought you out of Mitzraim to be your G_d.” So to follow kashrut is to follow the ethical teachings given us to know and understand that all of life is holy and when we sit down to a meal of meat or a meal of vegetables, we need to “discover” the hand of G_d, and learn anew the reverence of life. We have not stolen the life of the cow or chicken, we have (in at least one sense, given it gilgul – but we won’t go into that in this discussion) sacrificed it to expiate our sins and help us to grow. And perhaps to Sanctify yourselves and be holy.

As on Jew responded, when asked why he only ordered only salads when he ate “out” (in non-kosher) restaurants, “I’m Jewish, and each time that I eat a salad (and not something treif), I am reminded of who I am and what being Jewish means to me.”

Perhaps star-gazing too much has led me in a very round-about way of trying to say that we need to see HaShem everywhere and hear His voice in the bird song, and to try not to be a “nut case” for a few minutes; at least. Eh?

Shabbat Shalom

Chol HaMoed Laws

Celebration of Joyful Events...
This is the real stuff...

The Principle of "we may not intermingle one Joyous occasion with another" teaches us that we should not be celebrating simultaneously two major joyful occasions; simply because they would interfere or distract with or from one another.

Okay.

So: we may not get married on Chol HaMoed. It would distract from the festival (the festival was 'in place' before you set your wedding date). Or the festival may distract you from the joy and festivities of the wedding. It does not even matter if the woman was previously married or not.

AH.
But you are permitted to remay your divorcee on Chol HaMoed......since the joy is not at great as that of taking a new wife!!!!!

You had better check with your rabbi, or other local authority though because you may or you may not be able to serve a meal after the wedding (you can do that on the following day however. I guess the joy is not as great on the second date).

And what other prohibitions may be in place following this wedding, we will not even consider!

Now That's funny.

from

A Comprehensive review of the Laws of the Intermediate Days of the Festivals

.

Trying to see the forest for the 3's

Da’ Trees (as we say in Chicagoees)
As In: Ø
Over: A Tree

Which in Chicago gives you the tempature: 3 Below Zero



Actually… last week we looked at a certain aspects of 7’s. Nancy, in her studies has been learning about 10’s, and this time we will learn about: 3’s. Or rather: Gimmel; and the gematria of gimmel. We know that the letter [g] Gimmel is the third letter in the Hebrew Alef-Bet and has the numerical equivalent of three (3). So.

Alef, Beit & Gimmel – The Three Pillars, and they are explained thus:
a Alef stands for Torah study [as “I shall teach you wisdom.” _Job 33:33]
b Beit stands for the service of the Beit HaMikdash
g Gimmel. Gimmel represents the acts of kindness which form the basis of human society. For we certainly have learned that the world stands on three pillars: Torah, Divine Service & Acts of Kindness.
Three.

Now Gimmel has the gematria, as we have said, of three – a number alluding to the concept that two differing, or opposing factors (concepts, ideas, concerns…) must blend and form a third entity to become reconciled and thus a more perfect entity. The Maharal attempts to give us a better understanding by saying that as Alef represents and denotes the singularity – the “Oneness”, the ultimate perfection that only exists with HaShem, and the twosomeness or duality implicit in Beit implies diversity and multiplicity, or incompatibility, but it is gimmel that offers the opportunity and the

capacity to unite these differing ‘forces’ into a whole [shalam] complete and lasting unit.


This we see when we consider our three Patriarchs:
Avraham was known for his kindness. This indeed was his persona, as is shown in his receiving the (3) visitors/messengers at his tent – dcx.
Isaac showed us justice. Uncompromising justice – [yd:
But Jacob epitomized truth – tma.
These principles, demonstrated by our forefathers, could not, on their own, sustain the world. For a world built on kindness and justice alone would not stand. They would sooner or later – clash. And like a stool with only two legs it would fall. The third leg of the stool that gives the stability is that of truth – tma. For is it not “truth” that decides when to use kindness and when to ‘impose’ justice? Three concepts, three men of HaShem, three principles; a combination which gives beauty, meaning and permanence [another “3”]. And so the three Patriarchs complemented one another to establish the foundation of Israel – of Judaism. And as it is truth which joins and unites the differing concepts we should look at the three-letters which make up the word tma. Each of these letters has a firm base (graphically) and so visually it will stand on its own without falling. Moreover you have the first, the middle and the last letters of the Alef-Bet showing that the three letters unite the Alef-Bet in truth… in tma. And our Hebrew Alef-Bet is then one of truth.

Let’s consider another aspect here of joining the three into one. It takes three partners to do this: the father (giver), the mother (receiver) and HaShem who makes it happen.

Or, look at a different level, or plane; the spiritual. Man (people) has three different elements. There is the spn “animal” which is life; there is the xvr or “soul” that raises us above simple animal life; and there is hmsn the “transcendent soul” which embraces all of Israel and goes beyond this earthly life. [Once more the “3”]




And, of course, we have a) The Written Law – Torah, Prophets & Writings, b) The Oral Law – Talmud, Halachah & Aggadah, & c) The Emissaries [who took us from slavery to freedom – the Narrow Place to Sinai] – Moses, Aaron and Miriam. Then we also have our daily prayer cycle – evening, morning, afternoon. There are the Three-fold Sanctifications (of HaShem, by the Nation of Israel as well as by His angels – svdq svdq svdq. And our Jewish congregation itself is comprised of three: Kohan, Levi, Israel.

Perhaps the Zohar sums up that which may be call the ultimate threesome/triad (denoting “harmony” in musical terms)/ (?) asdvq dx larsyv atyyrva avh jyrb - consisting of The Holy One, Baruch Hu, Torah, and Israel – which are but One. It is said that The Torah is HaShem’s wisdom which Israel translates and converts into the human experience. We see that when we observe the three pilgrimages each year.

For this discussion; I an indebted to comments made by Rabbi Michael L. Munk in his book The Wisdom in the Hebrew Alphabet. I drew upon this well of knowledge and suggest that this book will make a great addition to your personal library.

Shalom

____26 Iyyar 5769 – 41st day in the Omer


I'm sorry, it seems that the blog-people do not allow for Hebrew lettering so some of the nonsense "words" in the text need to be converted to "Lashon Tov" font.