Tag Archives: Messianic Age

Calling in the Name of God

At the end of this week’s parasha, Chukat, the Torah tells us about the war between the Israelites and the Moabites. The Torah says woe to “the people of Chemosh” who will be lost and destroyed (Numbers 21:29). Chemosh is the name of the chief deity of the Moabites. It is interesting that the Torah names this idol, considering that there’s a clear mitzvah to completely obliterate the names of false idols and never so much as mention their names! (Exodus 23:13) The Talmud explains that if a name of a certain idol is recorded in the Torah, then we are obviously permitted to pronounce it in the course of learning and reading the Torah (Sanhedrin 63b).

Others comment that the prohibition of mentioning idol names is only if actually employing the names like idolaters might, such as in the form of worship or reverance, or by swearing on an idol’s name for business deals or in a courthouse. (See the Rambam’s Avodat Kochavim 5:10-11, and the Ramban on Exodus 23:13). It would even be forbidden for a Jew to make a gentile swear in the name of his false god, or for a Jew to tell a fellow Jew to meet him by the statue of a certain idol. That said, it is not prohibited to mention the names of idols for valid educational purposes and warnings about idolatry. (If you can’t clearly name and identify the idols, it might be difficult to educate people on avoiding them!)

The Haftarah for this week’s parasha builds on the same theme, with the hero Yiftach delivering a long historical speech, and telling the Moabites: “that which Chemosh your god gives you to possess, you may possess; and all that which יהוה [YHWH], our God, has driven out from before us, we shall possess!” (Judges 11:24) The Haftarah makes a point to specifically name Hashem multiple times, highlighting the greatness of YHWH over the false idol Chemosh. This reminds us of the mitzvah mentioned countless times throughout the Tanakh that the Jewish people should spread the name of God far and wide, to “call in God’s Name”—a practice that goes all the way back to Abraham himself, who “planted an eshel tree at Beer-Sheva, and from there called in the name of YHWH, the Everlasting God.” (Genesis 21:33)

The parts of God’s Ineffable Name (the four letters and the “crown” atop the Yud) correspond to the five levels of soul, the five mystical dimensions or olamot, the five groupings or “faces” of the Sefirot, as well as the five books of the Torah.

This begs the question: what does it mean to “call in God’s Name”? And are we even allowed to pronounce the various names of God? It is common knowledge that we don’t pronounce the Ineffable Name, YHWH, but what of all the other titles for God, such as Elohim, Adonai, and El Shaddai? Can we utter these names outside of prayers and Torah readings?

The Evolution of Ineffable

Originally, the Ineffable Name of God was not “Ineffable” at all. In Biblical times, it was used freely by Israelites, and frequently embedded within people’s names (usually without the final letter Hei) like Eliyahu, Yeshayahu, Yirmiyahu, Yehudah, Yehoshafat, Yehoyada, and so on. In the Book of Ruth we read of the common greeting YHWH imachem, “God be with you”, to which the recipient would reply: yevarekhekha YHWH, “God bless you!” (Ruth 2:4) Even today there is a fairly widespread custom to say these phrases when a person gets called up to the Torah, before reciting the blessings, except that now YHWH is typically replaced with “Hashem”.

Meanwhile, the Torah commands the kohanim to pronounce the Name when blessing the congregation: “And they shall place My Name upon the Children of Israel, and I will bless them!” (Numbers 6:27) The Name itself is the conduit of God’s special blessing. We still do the priestly blessing today, but without the actual pronunciation of God’s Name, in which place the kohanim say Adonai or Adonoi. It makes one wonder if the blessing still has the same effect if the kohanim are not actually placing God’s Name “upon the Children of Israel” as the Torah commands. So, how did Adonai come to replace YHWH?

Clearly, the Tanakh does not prohibit pronouncing God’s Name, and only warns against pronouncing God’s Name in vain, which is one of the Ten Commandments. The Mishnah (Sanhedrin 10:1) presents a minority opinion that someone who pronounces God’s Name has no share in the World to Come. Again, this must be referring to someone who pronounces the Name in vain, since we know the Name was known and used even in Talmudic times. In one place (Avodah Zarah 18a), the Talmud speculates on the deeper reasons for why Rabbi Chanania ben Teradion was executed by the Romans, with one opinion suggests he may have been too careless with pronouncing the Ineffable Name in public, and should have been more discrete. In another place (Kiddushin 71a), the Talmud says the Sages would teach the Ineffable Name once or twice in seven years. It is here that the Talmud affirms to avoid pronouncing the Ineffable Name with its actual four letters, and instead to say “Adonai”.

The earliest origin of using Adonai in reference to God is Genesis 18:3, when God appears to Abraham. Three angels then show up, and Abraham says: “Adonai, if it please you, do not go on past your servant!” The classic question here is: to whom does Adonai refer? Was Abraham speaking to God, or to the three angels that suddenly showed up? At first glance, the latter makes more sense, and Abraham was referring to the three mysterious figures as Adonai, “my lords”, in the plural. Hospitable Abraham was asking the three to stick around and not pass him by.

Rabbinic tradition, however, concludes that Adonai refers to Hashem here, and Abraham was telling God not to “pass by” or leave while he goes off to assist the three unannounced guests. This is where Adonai is first linked to YHWH, and the fact that “Adonai” is plural is not an issue, the same way “Elohim” is plural. The plurality is a form of respect, as is still found in many languages (including Russian and French) to refer to an elder or authority figure. It used to be the case in English, too, where “you” used to be the plural and “thou” the singular. Over time, the respectful plural “you” became the standard singular, while the informal “thou” disappeared.

Interestingly, while Adonai was instituted in order to avoid pronouncing the Ineffable Name in vain, over time Adonai itself became a holy name that shouldn’t be said in vain! Today, it has become common for people to instead say Hashem, “The Name”. Sometimes people (especially musicians) will say “Amonai” instead of Adonai—but this is highly problematic because Amon was the name of a chief deity of the ancient Egyptians! Other times, people will refer to the Ineffable Name by saying the actual letters sequentially, as Yud-Hei-Vav-Hei. This is perfectly appropriate, and was the practice of the Arizal (Rabbi Yitzchak Luria, 1534-1572). Yet, as expected, people tend to add extra (unnecessary) fences and now many will say Yud-Kei-Vav-Kei.

In Sha’ar haMitzvot (on parashat Shemot), the Arizal’s primary disciple Rabbi Chaim Vital notes how “My master of blessed memory [the Arizal] told me that one should not pronounce the four letters of God’s Name unless he does so through a milui, as follows: Yud-Hei-Vav-Hei”. (אמר לי מורי זלה”ה כי אמיתות פי’ דבר זה הוא שלא יקרא ד’ אותיות ההוי”ה ככתבן בלי מילוי אבל אם גם יקראנו במילוי כזה יו”ד ה”י וי”ו ה”י.) Rabbi Vital goes on to explain that the Arizal was careful to avoid pronouncing the names of certain angels, so Rabbi Vital asked him: “If we are allowed to always pronounce names of God like Adonai and Elohim, why would we be forbidden from pronouncing names of created angels?” (ופעם אחת שאלתי למורי זלה”ה כי הרי שמות אדני ואלהים וכיוצא אנו מזכירים אותם תמיד ואם כן למה אסור להזכיר שמות המלאכים הנבראים.) In other words, the names of angels are obviously less holy than names of God, so why are we careful with the former and not the latter? The Arizal explained that names of God are pure and can never receive any impurity, while names of angels can be manipulated, misused, and attract impurity. Hence, we can use names of God freely, but we should be more careful with the names of certain angels. The passage concludes by saying that, of course, when it comes to the names of common angels which have also become people’s names (examples given are Michael and Gabriel), these are permitted to use freely and as necessary.

We learn from this that it is not necessary to replace Elohim with Elokim, like many today do, or to fear using titles like Adonai. Similarly, names like El Shaddai are not ineffable, and can be pronounced as is, assuming it is done in a respectful manner or in the course of education or recitation of verses (so there is no need to say “Shakkai” in place of “Shaddai”). In fact, it is actually inappropriate to do so: Over the years, I’ve spoken to many recent baalei teshuva, converts, new students, and the like, and oftentimes these well-meaning people do not realize that Shakkai or Elokim are not genuine names of God at all. Because they heard others speak this way, they were unaware of the true name of God—and this is highly problematic and unfortunate.

For God’s sake, we really must use the appropriate titles, and “call in God’s Name” as the Torah reminds us many times. Our mission is to spread Godliness and awareness of Hashem far and wide, and to do so we must use the proper names of God, or else we spread confusion and misinformation. This sentiment was echoed in a detailed analysis of the issue by Rabbi Yitzchak Ratzavi in his Olat Yitzchak (II, 74 on Orach Chaim). There, he argues that such distortions of God’s names were never used by our Sages or referenced in any early Jewish holy texts, and that this is a recent phenomenon which actually denigrates God’s holy names!

דע שהזכרת שם אלקים בקו״ף במקום ה״א כפי שנפוץ בזמנינו, וכן קל במקום אל, קה במקום יה [שק״י במקום שדי, צבקות בשם צבעות] וכיו״ב לא נזכר שמץ מנהו בדברי חז״ל והקדמונים… ואדרבה י״ל שהוא גנאי לכנות כך לשמו ית׳

Know that mentioning “Elokim” with a kuf instead of a hei, as is common in our days, and similarly “Kel” instead of “El”, “Kah” instead of “Yah”, “Shakkai” instead of “Shaddai”, “Tzvakot” instead of “Tzva’ot”, and the like – these are not mentioned at all in the words of our Sages of blessed memory or the early rabbis… on the contrary, one could say that it is a denigration of God’s Names!

One thing that Rabbi Ratzavi points out in his historical examination is that these name-distortions were innovated by Ashkenazim who sought more stringencies, but were unheard of in the Mizrachi world, including the Yemenite community from which he hails. Indeed, Sephardic sources have always been far more balanced and logical in this regard, and truer to the Torah’s call for Jews to invoke God’s proper names. Rav Ovadia Yosef, for instance, was known to use the proper names of God in reciting verses both while learning and teaching.

To summarize: the Tetragrammaton YHWH is not to be pronounced (and few know the proper pronunciation anyway!) Adonai is the proper replacement when reciting verses—and does have its own status as a genuine name of God as well, so should not be misused. In colloquial speech, Adonai is replaced by Hashem. Other titles and appellations of God may be used, too, respectfully and not in vain, of course. These include six more names of God that are considered especially holy and, like the Tetragrammaton, are forbidden from being erased if written down: El, Elo’ah, Elohim, Elohai, Shaddai, and Tzva’ot (see Rambam’s Yesodei HaTorah 6:2). On the point of “not in vain”: saying names of God while reciting verses during prayers or Torah study (including Talmud study) is obviously not in vain, nor is it in vain in the course of teaching Torah or in the context of a shiur. It is also not in vain when singing verses from Psalms, various piyyutim and Shabbat zemirot (and I would even add: kosher Hebrew songs by modern-day artists), since it is a legitimate shevach or praise of God, sung with positive and spiritual intentions. Plus, they help to spread knowledge of God’s names throughout the world, as the Torah instructs us to do.

On that note, everyone agrees that we are now in Ikvot haMashiach, the “Footsteps of the Messiah”, and are gradually transitioning into the long-awaited Olam haBa, the “World to Come”. It is therefore worth noting that the Talmud (Pesachim 50a) states in this current world, we pronounce the Ineffable Name as Adonai, but in the World to Come, we will go back to properly pronouncing the four letters YHWH as in ancient times. In fact, the Talmud (Bava Batra 75b) says that in the future, three will be called by the Ineffable Name: the four holy letters will be appended to the name of the holy city of Jerusalem, and to the name of Mashiach, and to all of the tzadikim that will merit to be alive then:

עֲתִידִין צַדִּיקִים שֶׁנִּקְרָאִין עַל שְׁמוֹ שֶׁל הַקָּדוֹשׁ בָּרוּךְ הוּא, שֶׁנֶּאֱמַר: ״כֹּל הַנִּקְרָא בִשְׁמִי וְלִכְבוֹדִי בְּרָאתִיו, יְצַרְתִּיו אַף עֲשִׂיתִיו״. וְאָמַר רַבִּי שְׁמוּאֵל בַּר נַחְמָנִי אָמַר רַבִּי יוֹחָנָן: שְׁלֹשָׁה נִקְרְאוּ עַל שְׁמוֹ שֶׁל הַקָּדוֹשׁ בָּרוּךְ הוּא, וְאֵלּוּ הֵן: צַדִּיקִים, וּמָשִׁיחַ, וִירוּשָׁלִַים. צַדִּיקִים – הָא דַּאֲמַרַן. מָשִׁיחַ – דִּכְתִיב: ״וְזֶה שְּׁמוֹ אֲשֶׁר יִקְרְאוֹ ה׳ צִדְקֵנוּ״. יְרוּשָׁלַיִם – דִּכְתִיב: ״סָבִיב שְׁמֹנָה עָשָׂר אָלֶף, וְשֵׁם הָעִיר מִיּוֹם ה׳ שָׁמָּה״…

In the future, the righteous will be called by the Name of the Holy One, Blessed be He; as it is stated: “Every one that is called by My Name, and whom I have created for My glory, I have formed him, and I have made him.” (Isaiah 43:7) And Rabbi Shmuel bar Nachmani says that Rabbi Yochanan says: Three will be called by the name of the Holy One, Blessed be He, and they are: The righteous, and Mashiach, and Jerusalem. The righteous, as already explained. Mashiach, as it is written: “And this is his name whereby he shall be called: YHWH-Tzidkenu.” (Jeremiah 23:6) Jerusalem, as it is written: “It shall be eighteen thousand reeds round about. And the name of the city from that day shall be YHWH-Shammah.” (Ezekiel 48:35)

One could therefore argue that it may be the task of Mashiach himself to re-teach the world the true pronunciation of God’s Ineffable Name, and to restore the primordial task of “calling in God’s Name” wherever we go. Indeed, right after describing Mashiach in chapter 11, the prophet Yeshayahu tells us that in that future era, “you shall say: thank YHWH, call in His Name, publicize His deeds among the peoples; keep it in remembrance, for His Name is exalted!” (Isaiah 12:4) And the prophet Tzfanyah adds: “For then I will make the peoples pure of speech so that they will all call YHWH by name, to serve Him together.” (Zephaniah 3:9)

May we merit to see that day very soon!

Gentiles Becoming Jews

The Haftarah for this week’s parasha, Beha’alotkha, is a passage from the prophet Zechariah in which we read that in the End of Days, “many nations will attach themselves to Hashem and become [part of] My people, and I shall dwell among you…” (2:15) This is reminiscent of a more famous verse later in Zechariah: “In those days, ten people from nations of every tongue will take hold—they will take hold of every Jew by a corner of their cloak and say, ‘Let us go with you, for we have heard that God is with you.’” (8:23) What we find in these verses is that in the lead-up to the Messianic Age, many nations will start to realize the truth of Hashem and His Torah and wish to learn with the Jewish people and even become Jews themselves. Today, we are living the fulfilment of this prophecy and witnessing mass-conversions and similar “Judafying” trends all over the world.

Semei Kakungulu

One of the first such notable cases was that of Semei Kakungulu of the Baganda tribe in Africa about a century ago. Kakungulu had converted to Christianity in his youth, before becoming a powerful British-backed chief and warlord. Later in life, Kakungulu took a deep dive into the Bible and started to find inconsistencies and errors in the New Testament. According to legend, he isolated himself in a room and emerged some time later having thrown out the New Testament and declaring only the “Old” to be true. He then circumcised himself and his son and started to live according to Torah law. In 1925, a group of Orthodox Jews passed by Kakungulu’s village, and ended up staying to teach the locals proper Jewish laws and practices, including shechitah and prayer services. By the end of his life, Kakungulu had inspired 8,000 Africans to join him and built a network of 36 synagogues. Despite challenges and persecutions over the subsequent decades, today there are still some 2,000 of them in Uganda (called Abayudaya), and the community is recovering and growing.

A more recent case is that of Segundo Villaneuva of Peru. Like Kakungulu, he found many inconsistencies in the New Testament, and ultimately ended up immersing in Torah. He started his own community, called Bnei Moshe, which soon grew to over 500 people. In 1989, Villaneuva and 160 others completed Orthodox conversions, and the following year made aliyah. Two more waves of conversions and aliyahs followed. Villaneuva’s story inspired many more Latin American communities to embrace Judaism, and it is estimated that there are now 60 such communities across 14 countries in the region.

Parallel to this are many Christian communities that are not abandoning their core beliefs, but still choosing to transition towards traditional Torah observance. This isn’t new, and groups like Seventh-Day Adventists (currently numbered at 21 million around the world) long ago switched to a kosher-style diet and Sabbath observance on Saturday. The Evangelical “Living Church of God”—with 400 congregations around the world and over 10,000 members—commemorate Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, along with the three regalim, and have embraced other Jewish practices. Similar to them are the 8,000 or so Brazilians that are Pentecostal Christians but keep a host of Orthodox Jewish laws, down to circumcision, going to the mikveh, covering their hair, and eating kosher. While these communities still retain their wayward Christian beliefs, they are nonetheless starting to wake up to the truth and shifting in the right direction. Even the Pope said (in a 2018 interview) that more people should keep Shabbat like Jews do! I believe all of this, too, is a fulfilment of Zechariah’s vision.

Of course, mention must be made of the rapidly growing Noahide movement. The Bnei Noach are righteous people who choose to abide by the Torah’s Noahide Laws, without converting to Judaism. It is estimated that there are between 20,000 and 50,000 Noahides around the world today, and the unofficial number could be much higher. The Lubavitcher Rebbe played a key role in launching the Noahide movement, and was particularly adamant about educating non-Jews about the Noahide Laws. He hoped to make the Noahide Laws the backbone of all societies and legal systems, and famously corresponded with President Reagan on this matter.

Rethinking Conversion

Today there are converts to Judaism from all over the globe, from hundreds of different ethnicities and cultures. This includes Palestinians from Gaza, even a former Hamas terrorist, and the famous case of Abraham Sinai, a one-time Shia Hezbollah terrorist who ended up becoming a rabbi! Many African-Americans are converting to Judaism, including the well-known cases of NBA superstar Amar’e Stoudemire (now Yehoshafat) and musician Nissim Black.

This ties right back to our parasha, in which the Torah tells us that Moses married a Cushite woman. While there are certainly numerous differing interpretations of what exactly happened there, the simple pshat seems to be that Moses married a black woman and Miriam apparently had a problem with this. In turn, measure-for-measure, God punished Miriam by making her skin “snow-white” (Numbers 12:10). Perhaps God was sending Miriam a message: you’re not so white yourself! We should remember the words of the prophet Amos (9:7) in which God declares: “Are you children of Israel not like the children of Cush to Me?” (הֲלוֹא כִבְנֵי כֻשִׁיִּים אַתֶּם לִי בְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל נְאֻם־יְהֹוָה) We must not forget that all human beings were made in the image of God, and every person is precious in Hashem’s eyes. Indeed, the Midrash states in several places:

I bring Heaven and Earth to witness that the Divine Spirit may rest upon a non-Jew as well as a Jew, upon a woman as well as a man, upon a maidservant as well as a manservant—all depends on the deeds of the particular individual. (Yalkut Shimoni II, 42; Eliyahu Rabbah 9)

מעיד אני עלי את השמים ואת הארץ, בין גוי בין ישראל, בין איש בין אשה, בין עבד בין שפחה,
הכל לפי מעשיו של אדם רוח הקדש שורה עליו

Just about everyone agrees that we are in the Ikvot haMashiach, on the doorstep of the Messianic Age, and our dear prophets told us long ago to expect in these days that many people will wish to join Israel. We are living this time now, and we must do everything possible to welcome more people into the Jewish fold. The Orthodox world urgently needs to rethink how conversions are carried out: to simplify and soften the process, to remove the unnecessary roadblocks and red tape, and to make it easier (and more pleasant) for people to become Jewish—in fulfilment of prophecy. Let’s not forget what our Sages said in the Talmud that “Israel was exiled among the nations only to draw converts” (Pesachim 87b). Indeed, the actual laws of conversion according to the Talmud, Mishneh Torah, and other ancient halakhic sources is very simple and straight-forward, and could even be done in a single day! If Hillel could famously convert a man “while standing on one foot” (Shabbat 31a), there’s no reason why we can’t.

Some worry about the consequences of such an approach, namely that it will result in inauthentic or “fake” Jews. The truth is, as our Sages state in multiple places, all you need to be considered a bona fide “Jew” is to reject idolatry! In Megillah 13a it says “anyone who spurns idolatry is called a Yehudi” (שֶׁכׇּל הַכּוֹפֵר בַּעֲבוֹדָה זָרָה נִקְרָא ״יְהוּדִי״) while Nedarim 25a says “so grave is idolatry that anyone who rejects it is considered to have acknowledged the entire Torah” (חֲמוּרָה עֲבוֹדָה זָרָה, שֶׁכׇּל הַכּוֹפֵר בָּהּ — כְּאִילּוּ מוֹדֶה בַּתּוֹרָה כּוּלָּהּ). Others pose a similar argument that loosening conversion standards will “dilute” Judaism and result in more secularism and less Torah observance. The reality is that some 90% of the Jewish world is already secular anyway, so what difference does it really make? On the contrary, in absolute terms you will have more potential for Torah observance and Torah learning, plus a larger number of people overall keeping mitzvot and doing good, going to shuls, giving tzedakah, supporting Israel, and so on.

In short, the positives far outweigh the potential negatives. And at the very least, it will lessen the scourge of antisemitism, and will serve to strengthen our nation through sheer numbers. At the moment, Jewish people are easy to pick on because there are very few of us. For instance, we are outnumbered about 100 to 1 by Muslims, and this is one reason why Muslims have little fear in abusing Jews around the world, and why many Jews fear their far-more-numerous Muslim neighbours. In recent months, Jews have sadly been taking down their mezuzot and hiding their Star of David necklaces. This wouldn’t be the case if we weren’t so terribly outnumbered. If every other house in the world had a mezuzah, there would be no fear in displaying one. If half the university was made up of Jewish students, there would be no fear of going to class (nor would there be such flagrant, raging anti-Israel protestors shutting down the campus).

Judaism has never really been a missionary religion, but perhaps it’s time to change that. After all, Moshe Rabbeinu told us that when the nations of the world hear Torah, they will be inspired and say “Surely, this great nation must be a wise and discerning people!” (Deuteronomy 4:6) And Isaiah predicted that in the End of Days, we will no longer be a small people serving God, but shall become a “light unto the nations, so that My salvation should reach the ends of the Earth.” (Isaiah 49:6) The verses are clear and unambiguous: it’s time to spread Torah openly and outwardly, to all the nations, to every corner of the planet. The world is thirsty for it, and needs it now more than ever.

Rav Yitzchak Ginsburgh, too, argues that now is the time for the “Fourth Revolution in Torah Learning”: The first revolution was putting the Oral Law into written form—which had previously been forbidden. Nearly two thousand years ago, the Sages decided it was time to break that taboo and record the Oral Torah. The result, of course, was entirely positive, and resulted in an explosion of Torah learning. The second revolution was allowing Torah to become “one’s trade”, and have full-time Torah scholars and rabbis. This was originally unheard of, and Torah scholars in previous generations all had jobs and businesses of their own. However, changes in society necessitated having dedicated people who are full-time facilitators of Torah and mitzvot for the community. We wouldn’t be able to have the beautiful Jewish communities we have today without full-time rabbis. The third revolution came in the late 1800s, when advanced Torah study was finally opened up for women. Now, Rav Ginsburgh says, we are on the cusp of the fourth revolution, to teach Torah to the non-Jewish world, and this is the key for bringing about the Final Redemption.

Coming back to this week’s parasha, we read that “when a stranger who resides with you offers a Passover sacrifice to God, it must be offered in accordance with the rules and rites of the Passover offering. There shall be one law for you, for the stranger, and the citizen of the land.” (Numbers 9:14) The Torah says that even foreigners and those non-Jews dwelling among us could participate in Passover. Meanwhile, Zechariah describes that following the final war of Gog u’Magog, which will see a coalition of nations from around the world seek to destroy Israel, those same nations will be required to “pilgrimage to Jerusalem from year to year to bow to the King, God of Hosts, and celebrate the holiday of Sukkot.” (14:16) The Torah is inviting the nations of the world to join the Jews. Let’s extend that invitation, welcome with open arms all those who seek Hashem, and bring the whole world one step closer to Geulah.

Understanding Mashiach ben Yosef

Who is Mashiach ben Yosef? What is the true origin of the Mashiach ben Yosef idea, and where can it be found in the Torah? What are the four prophesied stages in the era of Mashiach ben Yosef at the End of Days? And what does it have to do with recent events in the Holy Land? Find out in this class where we embark on an in-depth exploration of Mashiach ben Yosef from Tanakh through the Talmud, Midrash, Zohar, Arizal, and the mysterious Kol haTor. 

This class is based on a set of essays in the recently-published third volume of ‘Garments of Light’, available on Amazon and here.