christian@topaz.UUCP (12/07/86)
[This is an experiment. I keep getting these submissions from Pinyele. My
first reaction is to say that they have nothing to do with the subject
matter of this group. However the rabbinical modes of discussion shown
herein have obvious parallels in some of the NT literature. E.g. in
one of the enclosed articles you will see the sort of numerical magic that
is behind the famous calculations of 666 in the book of Rev. The author
of this material is a member of a group of Hassidic Jews in Israel. They
are interested in dialog on spiritual matters with those of all faiths.
I'm interested in reactions from readers as to whether it makes sense to
post this material here. It is normally crossposted to talk.religion.misc
and soc.culture.jewish. I have combined the postings into a digest in
order to make it easier to skip if you want to. The material is posted
from bitnet by C33@TAUNIVM.BITNET. I'm not sure how to access this from
UUCP. (We use the Arpanet.) If you have no other route, I will forward
it for you. --clh]
Aquarian Age Chassidus
----------------------
Article #9
Spiritual Development
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There's five planes of spiritual development:
Plane #1: Tying Oneself - being tied soul-wise to one's family, friends,
aquaintances, contemporaries, ancestors, to the "heroes" of one's belief
system.
Plane #2: Suffering - the different types and levels of suffering and how one
reacts to them.
Plane #3: Wisdom - acquiring and assimilating ones "own" wisdom (the wisdom of
one's belief system) and connecting it to the wisdom of the world in general.
Plane #4: Holiness - sexual purity, withstanding sexual tempations.
Plane #5: Goodness - being a good, giving, selfless person.
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Article #10
Thinking About G-d
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We can think about G-d in two ways. The first way is according to some type of
feature or quality that we relate to or desire. Sometimes we find a person to
be beautiful, good, holy or wise and we therefore want to connect to him.
Likewise, when we realize that G-d's the source of all beauty, goodness,
holiness, and wisdom, we want to connect to Him. His reality is the only true
eternal reality. His beauty, goodness, holiness, and wisdom are the only true
eternal beauty, goodness, holiness, and wisdom. The second way is a more
abstract approach. We think about how G-d thinks. We ask "why is all this
happening?"
The first way is selfish. We want to connect to Him because it's truly
worthwhile. Indeed, its the most worthwhile thing there is in this world. The
second way is selfless. We want to think the way He thinks since we know that
the way He thinks is the only real true way to think. We want to acquire, as
it were, G-d's perspective.
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Article #11
SH-e-PH-AH & M-a-T-a-R
----------------------
The Hebrew word SH-e-PH-AH means overflow and superabundance. It's first
letter "Shin" is also the first letter of the word "S-i-CH-a-H" which means
"meditation." This word is used in Gen. 24:63 in connection to Isaac's
meditating in the field. The Rabbis (Berachos 26b) learn from there that Isaac
instituted the afternoon prayer. The second letter of SH-e-PH-AH is "Phay".
This letter is the first letter of the word "P-G-Y-AH-H" which means "coming."
This word is used in Gen. 28:10 in connection to Jacob's coming to the place
where he had his dream. The Rabbis (ibid) learn from there that Jacob
instituted the evening prayer. The third letter of SH-e-PH-AH is "Ahyin".
This letter is the first letter of the word AH-Mi-Da-H, which means "standing."
This word is used in Gen. 18:27 in connection to Abraham's standing before G-d.
The Rabbis (ibid.) learn from there that Abraham instituted the morning prayer.
So, the threee letters of SHePHAH hint at the three words which the Rabbis
learn that the forefathers Abraham, Isaac and Jacob instituted the three daily
prayers. The idea is that through the three daily prayers, SH-e-PH-AH
(overflow and superabundance) comes down to the world.
The Hebrew word Ma-Ta-R means rain. The first letter of Ma-Ta-R is "Mem".
This letter is the first letter of the word Ma-R-E-H which means "sight" This
refers to the power of sight which is connected to the candelabra in the
Temple. The candelabra produced light. Candelabra-sight is connected to
Abraham. The second letter of Ma-Ta-R is "Tet". This letter is the first
letter of the word "T-AH-M" which means "taste". This refers to the power of
taste which is connected to the table of showbread in the Temple. The
showbread was eaten and tasted by the priests. Table of showbread-taste is
connected to Isaac. The third letter of Ma-Ta-R is "Resh". This letter is the
first letter of the worod "R-aY-aCH" which means "smell". This refers to the
power of smell which is connected to the incense altar in the Temple. The
incense alter produced a good smell. Incense altar-smell is connected to
Jacob. So we have Abraham-Isaac-Jacob; candelabra-table of showbread - incense
altar; eyes-mouth-nose. So, the three letter of Ma-Ta-R hint at the three
Hebrew words that mean sight, taste and smell. The idea is that Ma-Ta-R -
rain, produces all the sights, tastes, and smells. The three letters of Ma-Ta-
R also hint at the three forefathers Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob who symbolize
sight, taste, and smell respectively. So that both SH-e-PH-AH and Ma-Ta-R
(both of which mean blessings that come down from above) symbolize the three
forefathers.
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Article #12
Relating to G-d
---------------
There's three ways of relating to G-d.
Way #1: The G-d of History - believing that G-d rewards the righteous and
punishes the wicked. He has chosen the Jewish nation as His people and He
relates to them in a special way.
Way #2: The G-d of Nature - believing that G-d controls nature and all its
phenomena.
Way #3: G-d Himself - believing in G-d and relating to Him outside of the
created universe and its events.
The first blessing of the silent prayer is way #1. We say "who bestows
lovingkindness ... who remembers the fathers' acts of devotion and who, in
love, will bring a redeemer to their children's children for His name's sake."
The second blessing of the silent prayer is way #2. We say: "You our L-rd are
all powerful forever ... You cause the wind to blow and the rain to fall ...
who is like you, master of mighty acts and who can compare to You." The third
blessing of the silent prayer is way #3. We say "You are holy and your name is
holy and holy ones (angels and saints) will praise you every day forever."
These three ways of relating to G-d are explained at length in the book Bays
HaLayVi - The House of the Levite on the Bible (Parshat Brayshith) by Rabbi
Joseph Ber, the son of Isaac Zev, the Levite Solovaychik of Brisk. (Note:
There seems to be a question here. We have a system called "the eight faces of
man." Briefly it's as follows:
face #1: Esau - grasping, selfish, pleasure seeking;
face #2: Ishmael - friendly, needs people;
face #3: David - wants to accmoplish;
face #4: Jacob - servent of G-d;
face #5: Isaac - philosopher;
face #6: Abraham - mystic;
face #7: Noah - mystic living in temporary altlernate state of conciousness -
the ark;
face #8: Adam - mystic living in permanent alternate state of conciousness -
the garden of Eden.
Now, according to this system, relating to the G-d of History is Jacob's way.
The servent of G-d serves Him in expectation of an intervention in History.
Relating to the G-d of Nature is Isaac - the philosopher's way. Relating to G-
d Himself is Abraham - the mystics way. However, we have established that
blessing #1 is connected to the G-d of History; blessing #2 is connected to
the G-d of Nature; blessing #3 is connected to G-d Himself. We further know
that blessing #1 is Abraham; blessing #2 is Isaac; Blessing #3 is Jacob. So,
this seems to contradict our system. However, it's not really a question,
because these systems permutate every which way according to certain hidden
rules. [like subatomic particle physics where the elements take on different
attributes depending on a variety of different parameters according to laws of
science that we have yet to completely understand.])
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Article #13
SH-e-PH-AH and Middleness
-------------------------
I've written before (article #11) about the letter "Shin" being connected to
Isaac, the letter "Phay" to Jacob and the letter "Ahyin" to Abraham. The SH-e-
PH-AH comes down from heaven - SHa-Ma-Y-iM, in Hebrew. Combining these two
words together we arrive at the letter "Shin" which is common to both of them,
the letters "Phay" and "Ahyin" and the letter "Tzadik" whose numerical value
(90) is the numerical value of the letters "Mem" (40) "Yud" (10) and "Mem" (40)
in the word SHa-Ma-Y-iM. The idea is that the letter "Shin" contains 3 prongs.
The right prong symbolzes Abraham - lovingkindness, thesis. The left prong
symbolizes Isaac - severity, antithesis. The middle prong symbolizes Jacob -
beauty, synthesis. The letters "Ahyin", "Phay", and "Tzadik" are three
consequetice letters. They're the 16, 17, and 18th letters of the Hebrew
alphabet respectively. They symbolize in three distinct letters what the one
letter "Shin" symbolizes by itself. Hebrew is written from right to left. So
"Ahyin" is to the right and symbolizes Abraham - lovingkindness, thesis.
"Tzadik" is to the left and symbolizes Isaac - severity, antithesis. "Phay" is
in the middle and symbolizes Jacob - beauty, synthesis. Now, any three
consecutive letters symbolize this idea. But these three letters are special
in that "Ahyin" has a prong that points to the left, "Tzadik" has a prong that
point to the right. So that both "Ahyin" and "Tzadik" are pointing towards the
middle letter "Phay". Now the Hebrew word for middleness is M-M-OO-TZ-AH. We
have again "Ahyin" and "Tzadik". The two "Mem"'s (40) become a "Phay" (80).
So that we have the three consecutive letters "Ahyin" "Phay" "Tzadik" which
symbolize middleness. The OO is the letter "Vav" that means "and" and is used
to connect two seperate words. Again the concept of middleness. The numerical
value of MMOOTZAH is 246, as follows:
Mem = 40
Mem = 40
Vav = 6
Tzadik = 90
Ahyin = 70
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MMOOTZAH = 246
Adding the four letters and one for the word itself brings us to 251. This is
the classic middle number. Abraham lived 175 years. Isaac lived 180 years.
Jacob lived 147 years. All together, that's 502 years. Half of that is 251
(true, it isn't the arithmetic mean, we'll call it the mystic mean if you
insist on labling it). So 251 is the middle of the years of the forefathers.
Now Jacob is called in Hebrew YAHQoB ABYNOO. The numerical value of these two
words is 251, as follows:
Alef = 1
Yud = 10 Bet = 2
Ahyin = 70 Yud = 10
Qooph = 100 Noon = 50
Bet = 2 Vav = 6
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YAHQoB = 182 + ABYNOO = 69 = 251
Jacob is the middle-synthesis forefather and therefore the numerical value of
his name is the middle number 251. One of the sages of the Mishnah is called
Rebbe M-A-Yi-R. The numerical value of M-A-Yi-R is 251, as follows:
Mem = 40
Aleph = 1
Yud = 10
Raysh = 200
-----------
MAYiR = 251
It seems that Rebbe M-A-Yi-R was the middle sage.
Dr. Pinchas (Pinyele) Gartenberg, the Honolulu Hassid
Computer Science Department
Tel Aviv University
Tel Aviv, Israel
C33@TAUNIVM.BITNET
There is a principle that everything can change to good.
If you believe that you can destroy and desecrate,
believe also that you can build and make holy...
Rebbe Nachman M'Breslav