Page 89 - 24107
P. 89

24107-EYAL - 24107-EYAL | 3 - A | 18-01-28 | 12:12:04 | SR:-- | Black
                                                                                                  #24107-EYAL - 24107-EYAL | 3 - A | 18-01-28 | 12:12:04 | SR:-- | Yellow
                                                                                                  24107-EYAL - 24107-EYAL | 3 - A | 18-01-28 | 12:12:04 | SR:-- | Magenta
                                                                                                  #
 Orchard of Delights                                                      Chayei Sarah            24107-EYAL - 24107-EYAL | 3 - A | 18-01-28 | 12:12:04 | SR:-- | Cyan


 The various usages of the root “to cross over” whether they be   £Coming into Days – £Coming into Days – Coming into Days –                                                                         3
 the command to Abraham to leave most of his old life behind him   £
 or the request that he  go beyond or “outside” his preconceived   Becoming a Master of TimeBecoming a Master of TimeBecoming a Master of Time
 understandings are, in fact, consistent with a certain message God
 wishes  to impart to Abraham. Through the  ten trials, Abraham
 is being taught that he  must “cross over” certain emotional,   Immediately  following  the  section  recounting Sarah’s death  and
 psychological, or spiritual limitations and stretch himself in every   burial the Torah states: “And Abraham grew old, coming into
 manner possible in order to pass the tests.
            days, and God blessed  Abraham with  everything”  (Genesis  24:1).
 This insight into the nature of Abraham’s tests offers us a profound   The Sages teach that the Hebrew word for “old” (zaken) means not
 perspective on a verse summarizing the world’s creation: “These are   only aged but also  wise. The mystically inclined understand the
 the generations of the heaven and earth when they were created, in   enigmatic phrase, “coming into days,” as alluding to the new state
 the day that God God [Hashem Elokim] made earth and heaven”   of consciousness Abraham achieved in the process of burying Sarah
 (Genesis 2:4). The  Sages point out that the  Hebrew word  םארבהב   and acquiring his first portion of the Land of Israel. This new level of
 (behebaram), “when they were created,” contains the same letters as   wisdom was bound up with attaining an understanding of how to be
 the Hebrew word םהרבאב (be’Avraham), “in [or through] Abraham,”   the master of time and not its slave: how to “come into days.”
 (Bereishit Rabbah 12:9). The implication being that heaven and earth   The root word for the Hebrew word for “world” (olam) means “to
 were created in or through the aspect of Abraham, for he is blessed   hide.” Paradoxically, the world both reveals and conceals God within
 with boundless creative energy!  nature. On a most profound level, the cycles of time and nature are

 From a Kabbalistic perspective  this makes good sense,  as in   patterned on the needs and interior worlds of human beings, who in
 Kabbalah, Abraham is not only deemed the aspect of chesed, loving-  turn mirror their Divine Creator. By observing the cycles of time and
 kindness, but the “chariot” or vehicle through which love enters the   nature indirectly, as revealed in the Torah, as well as by experiencing
 world. In other words, Abraham represents an archetypal energy and   them directly, humanity connects to a more spiritual Divine flow
 his actions in this world channel the Divine blessing of love. Being   and attains a more spiritual perception of time and reality.
 a “chariot” means being (whether  consciously  or unconsciously)   Divine time flows in a series of cycles. When we understand these,
 God’s agent of creative energy through which the world is constantly   we can enter Divine time. The most fundamental of these cycles is
 recreated.  the cycle of seven, manifested at the very beginning, in the six days

 Traditionally the  letter  heh, in the  word  םארבהב (behebaram) is   of creation and the  culminating Shabbat. This  cycle  underlies  all
 written especially small  in the Torah  scroll. One explanation  for   Jewish cycles of time and the number seven is subsequently reflected
 this is that this very letter was added to Abram’s name when God   in a wide range of ritual as well.
 renamed him Abraham. Why would this specific letter have been   By  aligning  ourselves with the Jewish calendar, based on  the
 added to Abraham’s name? The Sages teach that the letter heh was   monthly renewal  of the  moon and the  Jewish  holidays – which
 used to create this world while the letter yud was used to create the   themselves  correspond to nature and the  agricultural cycles  of
 World to Come. It is important to note that both these letters appear   the Land of  Israel – we open ourselves to realizing the cyclical
 in God’s essential four-letter name, the Tetragrammaton. Thus, the   and allegorical framework constructing our lives. By studying the
 letter added to Abraham’s name connotes the ability to create, to   changes of nature and the seasons, we become privy to fundamental
 change one’s most basic worldly nature. Abraham truly lives up to
            lessons of spiritual and emotional growth.

 72                                                                                  89






 #24107-EYAL - 24107-EYAL | 3 - A | 18-01-28 | 12:12:04 | SR:-- | Yellow 24107-EYAL - 24107-EYAL | 3 - A | 18-01-28 | 12:12:04 | SR:-- | Magenta 24107-EYAL - 24107-EYAL | 3 - A | 18-01-28 | 12:12:04 | SR:-- | Cyan 24107-EYAL - 24107-EYAL | 3 - A | 18-01-28 | 12:12:04 | SR:-- | Black   #
   84   85   86   87   88   89   90   91   92   93   94