Page 224 - 24107
P. 224
24107-EYAL - 24107-EYAL | 7 - A | 18-01-28 | 12:12:04 | SR:-- | Cyan
24107-EYAL - 24107-EYAL | 7 - A | 18-01-28 | 12:12:04 | SR:-- | Black
#24107-EYAL - 24107-EYAL | 7 - A | 18-01-28 | 12:12:04 | SR:-- | Yellow
24107-EYAL - 24107-EYAL | 7 - A | 18-01-28 | 12:12:04 | SR:-- | Magenta
#
Orchard of Delights Shemot
The first mitzvah given to the Jewish people directly relates to God answered Moses, “I Will Be That I Will Be.” And He said,
their mastery over time, for this is the most important distinction “So shall you say to the children of Israel, ‘I Will Be has sent me to
between a free person and a slave. A slave is not free to decide what you.’” God said further to Moses, “So shall you say to the children
to do with his time, only a free person has this option. Learning this of Israel, ‘God, the God of your forefathers, the God of Abraham,
lesson is the first step in the long road to true freedom. Ultimately, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob has sent me to you. This is
knowing how to use and relate to time is one of the main differences 7 My Name forever, and this is My remembrance from generation to
between a successful and unsuccessful person, both materially and generation.’” (Shemot 3:14-15)
spiritually.
A close reading of the text in Hebrew reveals that several of God’s
Time can be experienced in one of four basic ways. Firstly, time names are employed in this verbal exchange, culminating with God’s
can be experienced as linear. In this scenario, past, present, and essential four-letter name (more on some of these names later in this
future follow a chronological sequence; as each moment passes it is and the next portions). On the words, “This is My name forever, this
gone, never to return. The river of time continues to flow and no one is My remembrance from generation to generation” Rashi points out
escapes its ongoing current. Secondly, time can be experienced as that the word “forever” (le’olam) is written differently than it usually
a circle, a cycle that repeats itself in phases of weeks, months, and is, without a vav. This change in spelling allows it be vowellized
years. This experience is strongly reflected by the Jewish calendar differently and pronounced as le’alem – “to be concealed.” The Sages
with its emphasis on the weekly Shabbat, the monthly New Moon infer from this that God’s four-letter name should not be pronounced
celebration, and the annual Pilgrimage Festivals, all of which are as written because it is meant to be concealed.
intrinsically connected to the cycles of time manifest in nature, the There is a profound message here regarding God and His names in
seasons, and agriculture. Thirdly, time can be experienced as a spiral general. Paradoxically, God is simultaneously revealed and hidden
that actually combines and integrates the two previous experiences of in the world and all of creation. In fact, the word meaning “forever”
time, for it progresses in both linear and circular fashions. Time spirals and “to conceal,” in the above verse, also means “world” (olam).
upwards in a four-dimensional spiral never returning to the exact God’s four-letter name must always be revealed in the world, yet at
same place, yet always returning to the same vertical coordinate on a the same time this revelation must be concealed somewhat, for God
higher plane during each succeeding revolution. Thus each moment Himself is hidden. Paradoxically, a full revelation of God’s light and
of time is completely new; yet it is situated on the spiral above all presence would by definition nullify creation; therefore, in order to
the other points signifying that exact time of year. That is why, for prevent the world from being overwhelmed by His infinite presence,
example, a holiday can be experienced as absolutely new while at the God “hides” and contracts His power. For this reason, the Sages
same time being infused with vivid memories and feelings connected taught that “He is the place of the world but the world is not his
to the same holiday in previous years.
place” (Bereishit Rabbah 68:9).
Fourthly, time can be experienced as transcendent, as above The book of Shemot is the book of names because it reveals Israel’s
historical time. This is the way God naturally experiences time, for name as a nation, and introduces, as it were, God’s essential name to
on a Divine level past, present, and future all occur simultaneously. the world.
This is alluded to by the fact that the four letters of God’s four-letter
name spell “being” (havayah) when permuted. These four letters also
comprise the Hebrew words for past (hayah), present (hoveh), and
future (yiheyeh).
224 193
#24107-EYAL - 24107-EYAL | 7 - A | 18-01-28 | 12:12:04 | SR:-- | Yellow 24107-EYAL - 24107-EYAL | 7 - A | 18-01-28 | 12:12:04 | SR:-- | Magenta 24107-EYAL - 24107-EYAL | 7 - A | 18-01-28 | 12:12:04 | SR:-- | Cyan 24107-EYAL - 24107-EYAL | 7 - A | 18-01-28 | 12:12:04 | SR:-- | Black #
