Tag Archives: Yetzer HaRa

The Kabbalah of Shavuot

With Shavuot coming tomorrow night, let us delve into some of its deeper cosmic mysteries, as relayed in a most profound passage in the Zohar (III, 97b-98b, together with Ra’aya Mehemna). It begins by describing Shavuot night as a “wedding” between Hashem and His people. It is well-known that Mount Sinai served as the “chuppah”, the Torah as the “ketubah”, Hashem as the groom, and Israel as the bride. As explored in depth previously, in ancient times an Israelite bride was adorned with 24 different ornaments, and the corresponding “ornaments” of the Jewish people are the 24 books of Tanakh.

The Zohar says that there are those who, on Shavuot, learn the Oral Torah at night and the Written Torah during the day. But it also says that, just as a bride is excited the whole night before her wedding and doesn’t sleep, and prepares for her wedding with her 24 adornments, so too the Jewish people should stay up all night and not sleep, and “adorn” ourselves with the 24 books of Tanakh. This is why the Arizal laid out his tikkun text for Torah study on the night of Shavuot to be entirely from Tanakh, the Written Torah, and not the Oral Torah. The Arizal says that together with the Tanakh, one should study mystical commentaries on it. (This was the impetus behind my tikkun for Shavuot, to lay out the correct sections of study from Tanakh, and provide a concise and fitting mystical commentary on each section.) Why Tanakh and its encoded secrets should be the sole focus on Shavuot needs further elucidation. Continue reading →

What Exactly is the Yetzer HaRa?

This week’s parasha, Ki Tetze, begins by describing the procedure when Israelite men “go out to war” and encounter a beautiful woman behind enemy lines. The Torah permits taking this woman for a wife, but on condition that the soldier waits for one month. He is to bring her to his home, where she shaves her head and cuts her nails while mourning for a month for the loss of her family. Only then, if the soldier still wants her, he can take her as a wife. If he no longer wants her, then she is to be set free unconditionally. The Torah cautions that she must not be treated as a slave or sold. A big question here is: is the soldier permitted to have relations with the “beautiful captive” immediately, or must he wait one month until she is eligible to be his wife? Continue reading →

Counter-Sefirot and the Seven Chambers of Hell

This week’s parasha, Ki Tavo, records some of Moses’ final instructions to the people before his passing, and what the nation should do upon entering the Holy Land. Among these things is to have the Twelve Tribes divided upon two mountains, and pronounce a set of curses and blessings. The Torah records a total of 11 distinct curses. Although the word “cursed” appears twelve times, the last instance is only a general statement that “Cursed be the one who does not uphold the words of this Torah, to fulfill them…”

In his mystical commentary on this week’s parasha (in Sha’ar HaPesukim), the Arizal explains that the 11 curses are neutralized by the 11 ingredients of the special Ketoret incense. Similarly, they are blocked by the 11 curtains of the Mishkan. Why specifically 11? The Arizal explains that just as there are Ten Sefirot in the realm of holiness, there are ten opposing “counter-Sefirot” forces in the realm of kelipah, the unholy “husks”. These ten counter-Sefirot have an additional 11th source which gives them energy, since they are otherwise empty on their own. This is unlike the holy Sefirot, each of which is imbued with, and shines forth, its own unique energy and light. Having said that, among the Sefirot there is indeed an eleventh aspect, too, which is the unifying Da’at (itself portrayed as only the inverse of Keter).

Although Rabbi Chaim Vital records little else in Sha’ar HaPesukim that the Arizal said on Ki Tavo, we do know that the Arizal’s source for the counter-Sefirot was actually the Zohar—not on this week’s parasha, but on parashat Pekudei. In one of the longest, most complex, and most esoteric passages of the Zohar (starting at II, 242b), we learn about the energies that oppose (and, in some ways, balance out) the Sefirot in the realm of the Sitra Achra, the “Other Side”. Making sense of the Zohar’s cryptic language is a huge challenge, and I hope to do it some justice in the overview that follows. Continue reading →