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Orchard of Delights Bechukotai
sense, our world is a mirror, reflecting energies manifest in the upper descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the Jewish people had
spheres. Reality on this plane of existence is a manifestation of forces no real choice at all.
that have filtered down from their ethereal antecedents and finally A paradoxical statement in another Talmudic passage at first glance
taken on a material form. In most cases, their spiritual source is seems to betray the straightforward meaning of Israel’s acceptance
completely hidden.
of the Torah by free will. The Talmud explains that when the Torah
Thus, it is fascinating to discover that according to Jewish tradition depicts Moses as bringing the people to stand at the foot of Mount
God’s throne of glory, the symbolic center of all the created spiritual Sinai on the morning of the Giving of the Torah, it uses the enigmatic
and physical worlds, is surrounded by camps of angels on all four phrase “at the bottom of the mountain” (Exodus 19:17). Interpreting
sides. Each of these camps of heavenly beings is led by one of the four the verse homiletically, on a derash level, the Sages explain that God
archangels: Michael, Gabriel, Uriel, and Raphael. Reflecting this actually held the mountain over them like a barrel (so that the people
heavenly reality, the Temple was surrounded by four sets of three were literally underneath the mountain) and said: “If you accept the
stones and the camp of the Shechinah was surrounded on all four Torah today well and fine, but if not this will be your burial place”
sides by the tribes of Israel, divided into four groups named after (Shabbat 88a). God seems to be giving the people a harsh choice: accept
the leading tribes of Judah, Reuben, Ephraim and Dan. The four the Torah or be buried underneath this mountain. This interpretation
camps of angels also correspond to the four creatures that Ezekiel directly contradicts the straightforward peshat reading of the verse
envisioned surrounding the throne of glory (Ezekiel 1:1). that the children of Israel accepted the Torah freely! However, by
applying the Ishbitzer’s insight we can resolve the contradiction:
These correspondences beautifully illustrate how a certain truth
can manifest itself simultaneously on many different levels and in on one level, the Jewish people did receive the Torah freely, but on
many different dimensions. Furthermore, they demonstrate how another level God wanted them to know simultaneously that they
using the PaRDeS system for studying the Torah reveals the prism really had no choice, as Jewish destiny and the covenant already
that is reality. At the highest level God symbolically sits on a throne established between God and the patriarchs and the matriarchs had
of glory surrounded by angelic beings; this reality filters down to marked them for a particular mission and fate.
the Jewish people surrounding the Tabernacle in the desert and later In summation, like all paradoxes each side of the free will versus
to the Holy Temple in Jerusalem, as well as to Jacob surrounded Divine Providence equation has a certain truth to it even though
by his twelve sons and to the twelve stones Jacob placed around they seem mutually exclusive. As far as Torah observance goes,
his head as he dreamt of the future Temple. The tradition makes a it is important to realize that on one level we possess free will as
similar point in explaining that the earthly Jerusalem and Temple individuals and as a people in choosing to fulfill our mission; however,
are mirror images of the heavenly ones (see the portion of Pekudei for on another deeper level, we have no choice whatsoever as to whether
more on this subject). Significantly, the prophet Jeremiah refers to we want to fulfill our parts in the unfolding fate and destiny of the
Jerusalem as the “throne of God.” Jewish people.
This list of correspondences is but one example of the fundamental On Purim there is a seemingly peculiar mitzvah to drink “ad delo
notion that this world reflects much greater forces that simultaneously yada,” to become so intoxicated that we cannot tell the difference
exist in higher, ethereal worlds. This assumption is the basic premise between blessing Mordecai, one of the holiday’s heroes, and
behind the Kabbalistic concept of the four worlds: the World of Action, cursing Haman, our enemy. All year long we strive to fine tune our
the World of Formation, the World of Creation, and the World of capability to actualize free choice, carefully differentiating between
Emanation. These four worlds do not operate independently of each all the dualities we are constantly exposed to: good and evil, pure
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