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Orchard of Delights

By searching for the essence and primary causes we trace our
souls back to their initial unity in God, the source of all existence. beshalach ח ַּ ל ַׁש ְּב
It is there we find purpose and meaning in life and the strength to
be all we can be. Using the PaRDeS system (which peaks with the
mystical level of sod) to delve into Torah, likewise trains the mind
to continually look deeper, beyond the superficial literal sense of the
text in order to unearth myriad dimensions of meaning, a veritable £The Meaning of Five£The Meaning of FiveThe Meaning of Five
£
Orchard of Delights.

This portion begins with a description of Israel leaving Egypt. Part
of that account relates the following: “And the children of Israel went
£Time, Space, and SoulTime, Space, and Soul up armed from the land of Egypt” (Exodus 13:18). Rashi explains
££Time, Space, and Soul
that the root word for “armed” (chamushim) is the same as that of the
word “five” (chamesh). Thus, after first explaining that the peshat, the
straightforward meaning of the word in context, is “armed,” Rashi
The giving of the Ten Commandments at Mount Sinai was then offers an interpretation on the derash level, that the word here
accompanied by several natural and metaphysical phenomena: means “one-fifth.” According to the Midrash four-fifths of the Jews
“And it came to pass on the third day in the morning, that there died during the plague of darkness; only one-fifth of the Jews were
was thunder and lightning and a thick cloud upon the mountain, actually redeemed from Egypt! As fanciful and horrific as it sounds,
and the sound of a shofar exceedingly loud” (Exodus 19:16); “And what relevance does this Midrash have for us today?
all the people saw the sounds of the thunder and the lightning and
the sound of the shofar and the mountain smoking” (Exodus 20:15). Had the twentieth-century Holocaust not wiped out more than
Rashi comments that all the people were able to see that which is a third of the Jewish people one might tend to view this Midrash as
heard, something which cannot ordinarily happen. Modern science somewhat exaggerated or symbolic. Likewise, one might be tempted
refers to this phenomenon as “synesthesia,” a condition wherein one to read the Scroll of Esther in a similar manner, questioning whether
of the senses reacts in a novel way to a stimulus ordinarily dealt with Haman really intended to kill every Jewish man, woman, and child
by another one of the senses (such as, the sense of sight designating as the text indicates. However, in light of the very real destruction
a certain sound as blue, or the sense of sound designating a certain perpetrated on the Jewish people during the Holocaust, we need to
color as bell-like). The ability of all the people to see the sounds of the approach the above Midrash open to the possibility that perhaps the
shofar represents a heightened state of consciousness, a “harmony of figures are more than just symbolic. Perhaps only a small percentage
the spheres.” of the Jews actually merited being redeemed. Additionally, we should
learn the hard lesson that when a dictator arises who threatens to
Kabbalah explains that as God uttered the Ten Commandments, wipe out the Jewish people or eliminate Israel from the map, we
the people perceived the dimensions of physical and spiritual reality should take his words at face value and plan accordingly.
as one harmonious whole. Symbolically, the mystical tradition relates
that all the heavens opened and were revealed at Sinai. Further There is an additional, psychological or mystical (sod), explanation
stressing this unity, we are taught that at first God uttered all the for the Midrash’s assertion that only one-fifth of the Jews left Egypt.
According to the Midrash, the soul has five names: nefesh, ruach,

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