Page 219 - 24107

Orchard of Delights Bo

powerful positions in their host countries. Among the most famous signified by the word “to know” demarcates the beginning of the
examples are Mordecai and Esther in ancient Persia, Daniel in people’s redemption:
ancient Babylonia, Abarbanel in Spain, Disraeli in England, Trotsky During those many days, it happened that the king of Egypt died,
in Russia, and Kissinger in the United States of America. The same and the children of Israel groaned because of the work and they cried
pattern has repeated itself throughout history in similar ways in out. Their outcry because of the work went up to God. God heard
other countries and smaller localities around the globe.
their moaning, and God remembered His covenant with Abraham,
Rabbi Yitzchak Ginsburgh explains that the letters of the Hebrew with Isaac, and with Jacob. God saw the children of Israel; and God
word for “second to [the king]” (mishneh) when permuted spell the knew. (Exodus 2:23-25)
Hebrew word for soul (neshamah). The Jewish soul is “second to the Immediately after this verse describing God’s, as it were, realization,
king,” to God, the King of Kings, and this pattern is manifest in He appeared to Moses at the burning bush thus beginning the process
the Jews’ relationship with earthly kings and governments as well of the children of Israel’s redemption from Egypt.
(Rabbi Yitzchak Ginsburgh, The Hebrew Letters, p. 48). God’s blessing
that all the nations of the world would be blessed through Abraham In Kabbalistic terms, “to know” means to be united with the object
is partially realized when Jews attain high positions whether in of the knowing. For this reason the verb “to know” is a euphemism
government, literature, law, medicine, economics, art, or science. for intimate sexual relations, as in the verse, “And Adam knew Eve,
One day when the true history and development of humankind is his wife” (Genesis 4:1). When Israel, under the unbearable weight
revealed the world will learn not to forget the immense contribution of oppression, cried out to God, His compassion and love for His
the Jewish people have made to humanity. people was aroused to such an extent that He knew that the time for
redemption had come. He knew that the exile had fulfilled its purpose
of rectifying Israel and the turning point had now been reached.
However, within a Kabbalistic framework, the entire story of the
£I Will Be That I Will BeI Will Be That I Will BeI Will Be That I Will Be exile and redemption in Egypt is in fact part of a bigger picture.
The Egyptian exile is associated with the exile of knowledge (da’at),
££
which is rooted in the sin of Adam and Eve and their decision to
eat from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. When they did
When Moses asked God at the burning bush what he should tell the so, knowledge “fell,” and with its diminishment, the first exile – the
Jewish people when they ask who sent him, God names Himself as banishment from the Garden of Eden – ensued. In order for humanity
“I Will Be That I Will Be” (Exodus 3:14). However, in the following to reenter the Garden of Eden, it will first have to rectify the aspect
verse, He reveals the Tetragrammaton, the four-letter name by which of knowledge that has fallen.
he shall be known forever. While God is never again referred to as
“I Will Be That I Will Be” in the Tanach, the Kabbalah associates The Arizal reveals in his writings how the generations from Adam
this name with the sefirah of Keter, the highest of the ten sefirot, until the Egyptian redemption were all connected through the secret
and accordingly assumes that it represents the most elevated and of reincarnation and how humankind struggled with the very real
hidden aspect of God. This name and its significance will only be consequences of the diminishment of da’at (for a more in-depth
truly revealed after Mashiach comes. treatment of this fascinating subject see the fifth chapter in Return
Again: The Dynamics of Reincarnation). In fact, the Jews’ daunting
Moses’ conversation with God at the burning bush is one of the task in Egypt was to rectify knowledge; this is why the word
longest and most intriguing dialogues recorded between a human

198 219 # 24107-EYAL - 24107-EYAL | 7 - B | 18-01-28 | 12:12:04 | SR:-- | Black 24107-EYAL - 24107-EYAL |

# 24107-EYAL - 24107-EYAL | 7 - B | 18-01-28 | 12:12:04 | SR:-- | Magenta #24107-EYAL - 24107-EYAL | 7 - B | 18-01-28 | 12:12:04 | SR:-- | Yellow 24107-EYAL - 24107-EYAL | 7 - B | 18-01-28 | 12:12:04 | SR:-- | Black 24107-EYAL - 24107-EYAL | 7 - B | 18-01-28 | 12:12:04