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Orchard of Delights 7 Va’eira
candelabrum); the seven shepherds of the Jewish people; the seven £Moses Challenges God£Moses Challenges GodMoses Challenges God
circuits the bride makes around the groom at a wedding; the seven £
blessings recited during the seven days of celebration following a
wedding; the seven days of the holidays of Pesach and Sukkot; and
many others, including the seven lower sefirot. (In the next Torah According to Rashi the opening verses of this portion quoted in the
portion, we will demonstrate the intrinsic connection between the previous section are a direct response to Moses’ questioning of God
last three plagues that led to their being grouped together.) at the conclusion of Shemot. Moses went to Pharaoh in order to save
Israel, but instead Pharaoh dramatically increased the workload.
According to Kabbalah, the sefirot correspond on one level of “Moses returned to God and said: ‘My Lord, why have you done
interpretation to the human soul: the three upper sefirot are associated evil to this people, why have you sent me? From the time I came to
with the intellect and the seven lower ones with the emotions and Pharaoh to speak in Your Name he did evil to this people, and You
character traits. One of the most popular diagrams of the sefirotic did not rescue Your people” (Exodus 5:22-23).
structure portrays the sefirot in three vertical columns: two exterior
columns and one interior, unifying, one. This diagram portrays the God begins to answer at the end of last portion, “Now you will see
secret of balance and harmony. When counting the horizontal lines what I will do to Pharaoh, for with a strong hand he will send them
formed by the ten sefirot as they descend from above to below in their out and with a strong hand he will expel them from his land” (Exodus
three vertical columns, we discover seven lines, another example of 6:1). God’s explanation continues in this portion by further clarifying
the connection between three and seven (see the arrangement of the that the process of redemption is a lengthy one, which began back in
Sefirot in Appendix III). the days of the patriarchs: “And God (Elokim) spoke to Moses and
said to him ‘I am God (Hashem, God’s four-letter name). I appeared
In Sefer Yetzirah, one of the oldest and most fundamental Kabbalah to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob as El Shaddai, but my name Hashem
texts, each month is associated with a letter. These correspondences I did not make known to them” (Exodus 6:2-3).
yield profound secrets of creation and primordial paradigms of
energy that manifest on every level of reality. The third month of The Ishbitzer Rebbe notes a subtle anomaly in the first verse
the year, Sivan, is associated with zayin, the seventh letter of the – “And God (Elokim) spoke to Moses and said to him ‘I am God
Hebrew alphabet. Rabbi Yitzchak Ginsburgh explains that the (Hashem)’” – between the Hebrew word used for “spoke” (dibber)
source for the division of ten into three and seven is this association at the beginning of the verse and the Hebrew word used for “said”
of the third month and the seventh letter, zayin. Intriguingly, when a (amar) later in the verse. He explains that the former connotes
scribe writes the letter zayin in the Torah scroll, he affixes three small harshness, whereas the latter implies gentleness. At first God reacts
crowns to its top. Another beautiful hint to the intrinsic connection harshly to Moses’ questioning Him, but when he sees Moses recoil
between three and seven is that the word for “pair” in Hebrew is from the rebuke He softens His approach so as not to overly frighten
zug – a word whose two primary letters are zayin, the seventh of the him. In his explanation, the Ishbitzer Rebbe does not state explicitly
Hebrew alphabet, and gimel, the third. This indicates that three and why God chose to change his tone with Moses other than stating
seven are in a sense the quintessential pair. the obvious that when a person sees a loved one react negatively to
reproach he will naturally try to soften the blow. The question that
The unique relationship between seven and three is also affirmed begs an answer is, why is God concerned with not overly discouraging
by the Torah having been given on Shabbat – the seventh day – Moses, in this particular case?
during Sivan, the third month of the year. While all the Talmudic
Sages agree that the Torah was given on Shabbat in the month of

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