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Three Little Words A Genuine Kabbalistic Torah Secret Frank J. Dyer, Ph.D.
He that is able to understand secrets of the Torah and does not try to understan them will be judged harshly, may God have mercy". (Gaon of Vilna, Even Shlema 8:24).
The first three Hebrew words of the Torah (Five Books of Moses), Bereshit
bara elohim, have fascinated scholars for centuries. These words, transla
literally, are usually represented by five English words: “In the Beginning Created.” It seems straightforward enough; however, there are multiple
layers of meaning in texts such as the Torah, and even a simple phrase ca conceal a profound metaphysical concept. This brief study explores one Sign up to vote on this title
such secret.
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the conclusion that creation ex nihilo is an impossibility. This meant that Creation story of Genesis could not possibly be true on scientific grounds,
contradicting an accepted fundamental truth of the Bible. Because matte has been in existence eternally, uncreated, there was no “beginning” according to scientific reasoning. This argument possessed so much
intellectual power that it dealt a severe blow to the credibility of all religio doctrines, demoting them to the status of myth reflective of primitive, magical belief.
Then came the Big Bang Theory, demonstrating that our physical universe was, in fact, created ex nihilo, and in an instant at that. There was a
moment of Creation, after which there was a universe full of matter where there had previously been none. This universally accepted accepted cosmological
Sign up to vote onscientists this title theory received empirical support when Bell Laboratories Arno Useful Not useful Allan Penzias and Robert Woodrow Wilson, who are both Nobel Laureates,
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the traditional view that the Torah contains profound, timeless wisdom ca no longer be dismissed as contrary to science.
In spite of the consistency between scientific fact and biblical narrative, th objection may still be raised that the actual description in Genesis of the Creation event in which God says “Let there be light” smacks of an
unsophisticated anthropomorphic conceptualization of the Deity as king a
father. This image of of the Deity as having human attributes hardly appear consistent with the Kabbalists’ assertion that the Torah is a source of transcendental wisdom. Should we not expect more depth, or the use of least some philosophical language from the document that purports to
describe the process by which our physical universe was manifested by th Supreme Being? Sign up to vote on this title
Not useful Useful ofdeep Rather than having the feel of a profound exposition spiritual and
philosophical truths, such human imagery is reminiscent of the magical
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Deity in religious literature. Rabbi Steinsaltz also states (1985) that the
of physical metaphors in discussing higher matters is necessary because,
even though our language contains abstractions, it was originally based o sensory experience, and is therefore incapable of capturing advanced spiritual concepts. Thus, physical, corporeal metaphors are best way to convey unfathomable events such as the Creation so we may have some notion of it that is comprehensible at our present level of understanding.
Rabbi Steinsaltz makes the point that the Torah, which is considered by so
many as a repository of transcendental wisdom that furnishes a guide to a of the fundamental problems of both mundane and spiritual life, contains great deal of material dealing with simple themes such as oxen, planted
fields, and the like. These deceptively ordinary discussions may be studie Sign up to vote on this title
on several levels ranging from simple “Bible stories” ethical useful maxims t Useful and Not insights into the most profound aspects of existence. Steinsaltz, who is
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There is a tradition of Torah study that holds that there are four possible levels of interpretation. They are represented by the acronym PARDES, which stands for P’Shat, Remez, Derash (or alternatively, Din), and Sod
P’Shat refers to the literal bible stories, which are inspirational and of grea
interest from a purely literary perspective. It is the pure surface content without much effort at exegesis. Remez refers to the allegorical
interpretation of scripture, as found in the writings of Moses Maimonides a more than a thousand years before that, Philo Judaeus (Yonge, 1993).
Derash includes biblical hermeneutics in the form of rabbinic commentari
When Din is substituted for Derash, the reference is to specifically legal rabbinic interpretations of Torah.
The final level, Sod , refers to Kabbalistic secrets, intended to be hidden fr Sign up to vote on this title
the average individual because of their profundity and,inNot the case of the useful Useful
called practical Kabbalah, because of their potential for misuse by those w
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This esoteric interpretation provides a satisfying answer to an ancient and fundamental philosophical question. Interestingly, in spite of its being explicitly labeled a secret by the author of the Zohar, the nature of the
biblical text in which it appears virtually raises a huge red flag with respec
to the validity of that text’s superficial meaning. It is, however, a signal t is entirely lost in the translation of this passage into English as “In the beginning God created.” Thus, scholars and ordinary congregants who
the Book of Genesis only in translation simply have no way of accessing th
glaring signal that the superficial meaning, or P’shat, of “In the beginning
God created,” while valid on its own level, covers a profound philosophica proposition.
Here is what Kabbalists have long seen as the glaring inconsistency that Sign up to vote on this title
points to a hidden meaning in the first three words Torah useful, in light o Usefulof the Not core position in Judaism. First, the central prayer in the liturgy of all
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directly accessible in its full power on levels of Reality that are far above o physical world. All of this being said, said, why is it that at the very beginning
the holiest book of the religion whose core belief is the unity of God we fin that a plural form, elohim, is employed to represent God?
This is a question that has troubled rabbis and scholars for centuries. Two
explanations other than the one presented below, have enjoyed a measur of acceptance. The first explanation, which comes from 19th Century
European scholarship based on examination of ancient Hebrew manuscrip
of the Pentateuch, is purely stylistic. According to this research, the Tora was a collaborative effort that involved multiple writers. There are two separate writers of the Book of Genesis, labeled the “Elohist” and the “Jahwist.” Those parts of Genesis that use elohim were written by the Sign up to vote on this title
“Elohist” author who preferred that term to represent Deity, useful and those Useful the Not parts that use JHVH (no pronunciation specified) were written by the
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nothing arbitrary in this work, and that the use of one word over another
word with the same meaning, the repetition of a word, or in some cases e
a particular Hebrew letter, is deliberate and has a specific hidden meanin Thus, we certainly cannot reduce this fascinating inconsistency between
theological concept and singular vs. plural noun form to a mere case of “Y say po-tay-to and I say po- tah-to.”
A second, more plausible, explanation is offered by Rabbi Arthur Green in
work Radical Judaism (Green, 2010). Green argues that the Jewish concep
of God combined a number of deities of specific functions into one Godhea Thus, the primitive god of war was combined with the god of the harvest,
god of the oceans, and other entities to form an amalgam. This new supe
deity acquired all of the specific functions of the lesser tribal predecessors Sign up to vote on this title
and was regarded as multifaceted, yet havingan underlying unity. This Useful Not useful
concept is similar to the Greek Pantheon, according to Green. It is precise
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Regarding Torah study, the Talmud advises “Turn it and turn it, for all is in (Pirke Avot V. 25). This is precisely what we shall do in ferreting out the
Kabbalistic secret of Bereshit bara elohim. There is the literal turning of t
Torah scroll as one reads through it. Then there is the metaphoric meani of “turning” as changing one’s perspective on the text to uncover new meanings. We will now turn the Torah so that subject becomes object.
is a very fitting grammatical operation because our Torah secret does ind involve philosophical notions of Subject and Object.
The Sefer Ha-Zohar , traditionally attributed to the First Century C.E. Rabb Shimon Bar Yochai, and alternatively to the 15 th Century Rabbi Moses de
Leon who issued a written version of what until that time had purportedly Sign up to vote on this title Useful Not useful 1983), existed only as oral tradition (Matt translation, states:
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this sentence, is in fact the object. The true subject of the verb bara
(created) is not named. Matt points out that this is “perfect” because the Subject of the emanation of the created universe cannot be named. This
consistent with the Kabbalistic idea of the Paroketh, or Veil separating ou familiar subject-object manifold from the Unmanifest, which lies utterly
beyond our power to perceive or comprehend. Thus, the very grammar o
this passage reinforces the philosophical concept of God as Absolute Bein completely transcendent and unaffected by emanated existence of a physical universe.
Scholem (1941, 1961) indicates that what we now recognize as actually being the object in this sentence, Elohim, represents the manifested
universe in its most elementary form, Perceiver or Subject, and an Object Sign up to vote on this title
Mi (meaning “the determinable world.” This includes the One Subject oruseful Useful Not
“who” in Hebrew), and that which can be perceived, or Eleh. Scholem
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was actually the normative interpretation of the first three words of the
Torah among all of the disciples of the highly influential medieval Kabbali Isaac the Blind and Nachmanides. The implication for spiritual practice and belief is that there is ONLY one Subject and only one sort of undifferentiated Primordial Matter producing
world of appearances through combining in different ways. We are merel
individualized units of consciousness within the One Subject. Thus all hum beings are bound together in the most fundamental manner, and any differences among us are due to the limitations and obscurations of
consciousness associated with our position in the lowest of the worlds with the Kabbalistic system.
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At our core, we ARE this One Subject and the One Subject IS each of us. Useful Not useful each perceive the same undifferentiated Primordial Matter, modified into
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extremely circumscribed expression upon this plane of manifestation allow
us an opportunity to move toward greater individualism and separateness toward a return to That which is infinitely greater, more valuable, more meaningful, and more Real than our present state.
The ultimate basis of our existence is the One Perceiver, present from the instant of Creation as a necessary component of a manifested universe. soul of each of us is rooted, equally, in this One Perceiving Being. This notion is related to the Kabbalistic Kabbalistic concept of Adam Kadmon. In the Kabbalah of Rabbi Isaac Luria, Adam
Kadmon
is described as the primeva
soul that contained all human souls. The idea of Adam Kadmon, and its relation to the Adam of Genesis within the Torah, must remain a topic (or Subject) for another discussion, however.
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mainstream, the most influential medieval Kabbalists accepted this
alternative interpretation of Bereshit bara elohim, as did all of their discip This disclosure is but one of a myriad of intellectual and spiritual gems to
found in the deeper layers of this complex document, the Torah, elucidate by the investigations of the Kabbalists over many centuries.
References Green, A. (2010) Radical Judaism. New Haven: Yale University Press.
Herford, R.T. (1945, 1962) The Ethics of the Talmud: Sayings of the Fathe New York: Schocken Books. (Pirke Avot Section V, 25)
Sign up to on this title Paulist Matt, D.C. (1983) Zohar The Book of Enlightenment . vote New York: Useful Not useful
Scholem, G. G. (1941, 1961) Major Trends in Jewish Mysticism . New York:
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