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Orchard of Delights Yitro
the letters are taught according to their forms, names, and numerical Ten Commandments simultaneously and only after repeated them
values. This concept of the letters complements the Ba’al Shem Tov’s word by word (Rashi on Exodus 20:1).
teaching that the letters manifest on three intrinsically connected In the verse mentioned above the Hebrew word for “smoking
levels: Worlds, Souls, and Divinity. Thus each letter has significance, [mountain]” (ashan), is comprised of three Hebrew letters, which
influence, and application or substance on all three levels: the physical form an acronym for the various dimensions of reality described by
world, the human soul, and the level of its more Divine archetypal the Sefer Yetzirah. The letter ayin represents the Hebrew word for
source. These three levels of consciousness and reality manifest “world” or “space” (olam); the letter shin represents the Hebrew word
within the form, name, and numerical value of each and every letter for “year” or “time” (shanah); the letter nun represents the Hebrew
and, of course, of the words formed from the letters. word for “soul” or “consciousness” (nefesh), a dimension, according
If children were taught from the outset the very deepest concepts to the Sefer Yetzirah, as real as the other physical dimensions. Albert
of the letters and their function in the world their entire view of Einstein was able to reveal just one hundred years ago that time can
Torah and the world would be significantly richer and deeper. The also be considered a dimension and that the three dimensions of space
Vilna Gaon amongst others stated that in essence the sod, the secret and one dimension of time form a unified space-time continuum.
mystical teachings of Judaism, are in fact the peshat, the simple, Although science has yet to deem soul a dimension per se, quantum
straightforward meanings of the Torah. If children were shown this physics now recognizes that consciousness is not a passive observer,
at the very beginning of their education, they would truly be vessels but a critical determinant, of reality. (See the portions of Re’eh and
open to the very depths of the Torah and would experience all of life Ki Tavo in the book of Deuteronomy for a more detailed explanation
as an Orchard of Delights. of the role of consciousness from a scientific perspective.)
The idea of soul or consciousness as a dimension or as a determinant
of reality is reflected by Rashi’s comment on the verse: “They
travelled from Rephidim and came to the desert of Sinai and they
camped in the desert, and Israel camped across from the mountain
[Mount Sinai]” (Exodus 19:2). Rashi notes that the Hebrew word for
“camped” is written in the singular, when, presumably, as the verb
expressing the action taken by a multitude of people, it should have
been written in the plural. Rashi informs us that the singular form
comes to emphasize that the children of Israel came to Sinai “as one
person with one heart,” a state of affairs not to be repeated again
with such intensity during the forty year sojourn in the desert. Many
commentators conclude from Rashi’s comment that it was this level
of collective elevated consciousness that allowed for the Giving of
the Torah. The people’s unity elevated their spiritual and physical
connection to the point that they were worthy receptacles and was
in fact the prerequisite for and an essential part of the awesome
experience. Their consciousness quite simply was instrumental in
determining the reality as it unfolded at Sinai.
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