Wednesday, October 23, 2013

The Non-Dual Teachings of Moses Cordovero

"Nothing is outside of God. This applies . . . to everything that exists, large and small - they exist solely through the divine energy that flows to them and clothes itself in them. If God's gaze were withdrawn for even a moment, all existence would be nullified . . . Contemplating this, you are humbled, your thoughts purified. - Moses Cordovero, Or Yaqar.


Do not say "This is a stone and not God." God forbid! 
Rather, all existence is God, and the stone is a thing pervaded by divinity. - Moses Cordovero



Before anything emanated, there was only Ein Sof. Ein Sof was all that existed. Similarly after it brought into being all that exists, there is nothing but it. You cannot find anything that exists apart from it . . . God is everything that exists, though everything that exists is not God. It is present in everything, and everything comes into being from it. Nothing is devoid of its divinity. Everything is within it; it is within everything and outside of everything. There is nothing but it.  - Moses Cordovero, Elimah Rabbati.

The essence of divinity is found in every single thing - nothing but it exists. Since it causes every thing to be, no thing can live by anything else. It enlivens them; its existence exists in each existent. Do not attribute duality to God. Let God be solely God. If you suppose that Ein Sof emanates until a certain point, and that from that point on is outside of it, you have dualized. God forbid! Realize, rather, that Ein Sof exists in each existent. Do not say "This is a stone and not God." God forbid! Rather, all existence is God, and the stone is a thing pervaded by divinity.  - Moses Cordovero, Shi'ur Qomah.

Everything is catenated in its mystery, caught in its oneness . . . The entire chain is One. Down to the last link, everything is linked with everything else, so divine essence is below as well as above, in heaven and earth. There is nothing else.  - Moses de Leon, Sefer ha-Rimmon.

Nothing is outside of God. This applies . . . to everything that exists, large and small - they exist solely through the divine energy that flows to them and clothes itself in them. If God's gaze were withdrawn for even a moment, all existence would be nullified . . . Contemplating this, you are humbled, your thoughts purified. - Moses Cordovero, Or Yaqar.

When powerful light is concealed and clothed in a garment, ir is revealed. Though concealed, the light is actually revealed, for were it not concealed, it could not be revealed. This is like wishing to gaze at the dazzling sunn. Its dazzle conceals it, for you cannot look at its overwhelming brilliance. Yet when you conceal it - looking at it through screens - you can see and not be harmed. So it is with emanation: by concealing and clothing itself, it reveals itself.  - Moses Cordovero, Pardes Rimmonim.

Ein Sof cannot be conceived, certainly not expressed, though it is  intimated in every thing, for there is nothing outside of it. No letter, no name, no writing, no thing can confine . . . Ein Sof has no will, no intention, no desire, no thought, no speech, no action - yet there is nothing outside of it.  - Azriel of Gerona, Commentary on the Ten Sefirot.


Ultimately all the sefirot and all the creation that emanates from them are one with Ein Sof. Moses Cordovero compares the process with water flowing through vessels of different colours - the water remains one and of one colour, though it appears to divide and to change colour. Everything is one, nothing exists but the one divine being. This position is very similar to that of the Sufi philosopher Ibn Al'arabi.

Tuesday, October 1, 2013

The Panentheism of Baal Shem Tov, Rabbi Yisroel (Israel) ben Eliezer





“All that I have achieved,” the Baal Shem Tov once remarked, “I have achieved not through study, but through prayer”. Prayer, however, is not merely petitioning God to grant a request, nor even necessarily speaking to God, but rather (“cleaving”, dvekut)— the glorious feeling of ’Oneness with God Almighty’, the state of the soul wherein a man or woman gives up their consciousness of separate existence, and join their own selves to the Eternal Being of God Supreme. Such a state produces indescribable bliss, which is the foremost fruit of the true worship of God.





All matter is a manifestation of God - Since God is immanent in all things, all things must possess something good in which God manifests Himself as the source of good. For this reason, the Besht taught, every man must be considered good, and his sins must be explained, not condemned. One of his favorite sayings was that no man has sunk too low to be able to raise himself to God. Naturally, then, it was his chief endeavor to convince sinners that God stood as near to them as to the righteous, and that their misdeeds were chiefly the consequences of their folly. 

Whoever does not believe that God resides in all things, but separates God and them in his thoughts, has not the right conception of God. It is equally fallacious to think of a creation in time: creation, that is, God’s activity, has no end. God is ever active in the changes of nature: in fact, it is in these changes that God’s continuous creativeness consists.

The foundation-stone of Hasidism as laid by Besht is a strongly marked panentheistic conception of God. He declared the whole universe, mind and matter, to be a manifestation of the Divine Being; that this manifestation is not an emanation from God, as is the conception of the Kabbalah by Mitnagdim, for nothing can be separated from God: all things are rather forms in which God reveals Himself.

Since every act in life is a manifestation of God, and must perforce be divine, it is man’s duty so to live that the things called “earthly” may also become noble and pure, that is, divine - Baal Shem Tov, Rabbi Yisroel (Israel) ben Eliezer 

Thursday, September 19, 2013

Holy. Holy, Holy, the Lord of Hosts, the whole earth is filled with His Glory (Isa 6:3)

There are two praises of the angels: The first is "Holy. Holy, Holy, the Lord of Hosts, the whole earth is filled with His Glory (Isa 6:3). This speaks of God's Immanence (presence in all things) where His Glory, which is the aspect of Malkut-Kingship, fills all creation. The Second Praise is "Blessed be God's Glory from His place (Eze 3:12) This indicates His Transcendence, where even his Glory, (which is Malkhut-Kingship, the lowest level of the 10 Sephiroth) must be blessed from afar. These two levels show that God both fills all Worlds and encompasses all worlds. 

The word "bless" indicates the aspect in which God fills all the world. This however, comes from God's "place", that is, from the aspect where He is in the place of the Universe, encompassing all creation. Thus, when it is said, "Blessed be God's glory from His place", it means that the aspect in which he "surrounds all worlds" must be brought down so that He should "fill all worlds". - The Bahir p. 152 

Monday, September 2, 2013

The Meaning of the Life of Pi , remains hidden in the boat "Tsimtsum"

The meaning of the Movie "Life of Pi" is hidden in the Name .... of the boat "TsimTsum"

"If you were to create a world, the first thing you would need to master is "tsimtsum."

Tsimtsum is a way of being present in your absence. Tsimtsum literally means “reduction.” For a Kabbalist, a tsimtsum is a reduction of the divine energy that creates worlds—something like the transformers that reduce the voltage of the electric current leaving the turbine generators, until it’s weak enough for a standard light bulb to handle. So too, the divine energy needs to be stepped down so that the created worlds can handle it.

Kabbalists describe innumerable such tsimtsums (tsimtsumim is the actual plural form) that generate innumerable worlds. Our world is the final stop, since at this point the degree of tsimtsum is so extreme that the divine energy is almost imperceptible. As a result, our world contains created beings that feel they are here just because they are here, no further questions asked. One tsimtsum more, and nothing at all could exist. Existence requires some sort of connection to the initial source of everything — meaning, to the Creator.

There’s another type of tsimtsum, described by the master Kabbalist, Rabbi Isaac Luria, known as “the Ari.” It is the primal tsimtsum, and it is unique from all other tsimtsumim. Much like the irrational number pi, the primal tsimtsum transforms an infinite circle into a measured line. The Ari described an initial, pre-creation state of infinite light, within which there was no place for anything at all to be.

Before creating any worlds, the Creator withdrew that energy completely, resulting in a total void within the infinite light. Only then did He extend into this void a metered line of light from the encompassing infinite light, with which He generated an innumerable series of worlds.

Tsimtsum, then, is the way G‑d makes space for us to have our own world. He hides His light from us, so that we can make our own choices. But He remains immanently present within that hiddenness. In a way, He is yet more present in His absence than in His presence…..

.... So next time you feel yourself in darkness, having to pick yourself up from the ground and start all over again, to make tough decisions and meet gruesome challenges—at those times, think of all your life and all your world as nothing more and nothing less than a parable. A deep, rich parable. And in that parable, in every detail, hides God Himself. Most conspicuously, in the dark corners. -

In the tsimtsum. " 


Thursday, May 2, 2013

Lecha Dodi, Come my Beloved. O Bride, Shabbat Queen, now come !



Lcha Dodi (Hebrew: לכה דודי‎; also transliterated as Lecha Dodi, L'chah Dodi, Lekah Dodi, Lechah Dodi; Ashkenazic pronunciation: Lecho Dodi, Biblical: Lekhah Dhodhiy) is a Hebrew-language Jewish liturgical song recited Friday at dusk, usually atsundown, in synagogue to welcome Shabbat prior to the Maariv (evening services). It is part of the Kabbalat Shabbat ("acceptance of Sabbath").

Lekhah Dodi means "come my beloved," and is a request of a mysterious "beloved" that could mean either God or one's friend(s) to join together in welcoming Shabbat that is referred to as the "bride": likrat kallah ("to greet the [Shabbat] bride"). During the singing of the last verse, the entire congregation rises and turns to the open door, to greet "Queen Shabbat" as she arrives.


Come out my Beloved, the Bride to meet;
The inner light of Shabbat,  let us greet.
Come out my Beloved, the Bride to meet;
The inner light of Shabbat, let us greet.
"Observe" and "Remember" in a single word,
He caused us to hear, the One and Only Lord.
G-d is One and His Name is One,
For renown, for glory and in song.
Come out my Beloved, the Bride to meet;
The inner light of Shabbat, let us greet.
To welcome the Shabbat, let us progress,
For that is the source, from which to bless.
From the beginning, chosen before time,
Last in deed, but in thought - prime.
Come out my Beloved, the Bride to meet;
The inner light of Shabbat, let us greet.
Sanctuary of the King, city royal,
Arise, go out from amidst the turmoil.
In the vale of tears too long you have dwelt,
He will show you the compassion He has felt.
Come out my Beloved, the Bride to meet;
The inner light of Shabbat, let us greet.
Arise, now, shake off the dust,
Dress in your garments of splendor, my people,
By the hand of Jesse’s son of Bethlehem,
Redemption draws near to my soul.
Come out my Beloved, the Bride to meet;
The inner light of Shabbat, let us greet.
Wake up, wake up,
Your light has come, rise and shine.
Awaken, awaken; sing a melody,
The glory of G-d to be revealed upon thee.
Come out my Beloved, the Bride to meet;
The inner light of Shabbat, let us greet.
Be not ashamed, nor confounded,
Why are you downcast, why astounded?
In you, refuge for My poor people will be found,
The city will be rebuilt on its former mound.
Come out my Beloved, the Bride to meet;
The inner light of Shabbat, let us greet.
May your plunderers be treated the same way,
And all who would devour you be kept at bay.
Over you Your G-d will rejoice,
As a groom exults in his bride of choice.
Come out my Beloved, the Bride to meet;
The inner light of Shabbat, let us greet.
To right and left you'll spread abroad,
And the Eternal One you shall laud.
Through the man from Peretz's family,
We shall rejoice and sing happily.
Come out my Beloved, the Bride to meet;
The inner light of Shabbat, let us greet.
Come in peace, her Husband's crown of pride,
With song (on Festivals: rejoicing) and good cheer.
Among the faithful of the people so dear
Enter O Bride, enter O Bride;
O Bride, Shabbat Queen, now come here!
Come out my Beloved, the Bride to meet;
The inner light of Shabbat, let us greet.