 The concept of Tikkun Olam is the mission to bring about, via our actions, the means to restore, heal, and repair the Cosmos, Ayn Sof, and our own inner being. According to Lurianic mythology, during the process of creation initiated by Ayn Sof, an event called the Shattering of the Spheres occurred. This is when Ayn Sof was emanating out of its infinite being and conjuring a finite structure for itself that would ultimately enable the creation of a finite conceptual version of itself, a divinity that could be understood by the finite mind. This would be the deity as described in the TaNaK and approached by the means of the rituals of the prayer book. This would be the indwelling presence of the divine, aka the Shekhinah, which would be the power and essence of the lowest realm of Malkuth. Now, according to the mythology, in the middle of this act of emanation, the infinite powers could not be fixed and contained in the finite structure, and one of the ‘spheres’ shattered. The traditional conception is that at the moment of the formation of Gevurah, aka Din, that was the sefrah that shattered. My own variation would have it that after Binah was formed, the sefrah Da’at was next. This is, of course, the sefrah that is an alternative presence within the ten sefirah of the Sefirot, depending on how one imagines the associate position of either Keter or Malkuth in the counting of the Ten sefirah. Within my own variation, Da’at is the sefrah that shatters. Hence, its tenuous presence, and in the final configuration of the Sefirot within our physical realm, is completely absent. In either case, after the Shattering of the Spheres, Ayn Sof is attempting to regain control of the process of emanation and complete it. The fragments of the shattered sphere are now scattered throughout creation, and disharmony is a part of creation. Once the process is finalized, Ayn Sof finds itself encased in a disharmonious Cosmos and has no way to restore its own balance and harmony. We, humanity, are the means to accomplish that through our ability to take on the task of Tikkun Olam. Traditionally, this configuration is represented in the conflict of the Left Pillar symbolized and represented by Gevurah/Din, and the Right Pillar symbolized and represented by Gedulah/Chesed. These are forever having the potential to tear asunder the whole of the Cosmos if either one gets complete control of the Sefirot system. Essentially, all acts of Tikkun Olam feed into the mediating sefrah of Tiferet, which is the key to stabilizing the oppositional powers contained in Gevurah/Din and Gedulah/Chesed. Essentially, according to the traditional imaging of the Sefirot, the system is eternally in a precarious position of potential disaster. There is built into the imagining of the system disharmony and disruption with only the hope of attempting to balance it by human intervention via the deeds of Tikkun Olam. My question is this. Can you solve, resolve, and establish harmony if you accept and envision the system in permanent disharmony and conflict? I would propose that you cannot fix something that you already describe as broken. To repair a thing is to rebuild it with a new structure that is already harmoniously in balance. A broken engine is repaired when you take out the broken parts and replace them with parts that will work successfully together. Then and only then can you get the whole vehicle to function. I would then propose that in order to enact Tikkun Olam, we need to take out the broken and dysfunctional parts and replace them. The dysfunctional parts are Din/Judgement and Chesed/Loving Kindness. These are an oppositional duality. Now, traditionally, Din is imagined as the Biblical figure of Isaac, and Chesed is imagined as the Biblical figure of Abraham. Now, it does not take much imagination to see that there could be disharmony between those two patriarchal figures, as described in the first book of the Torah, chapter 22. According to that telling, Abraham tried to kill Isaac under the direction of God by sacrificing Isaac on the mount in the land of Moriah. This is not the only questionable, though potentially excusable, and explainable action taken by Abraham. In two places in the narrative, Abraham says Sarah is his sister (Genesis 12:10 through 13:1, in the encounter with Pharaoh, and Genesis 20, in the encounter with Abimelech). Knowing Sarah to be a great beauty and fearing that Abimelech and Pharaoh would kill Abraham to be with Sarah, Abraham asks Sarah to tell them that she is his sister. In those stories, Abraham is not showing unconditional loving kindness but very much offering his love only under certain limits and conditions. Thus, the seeds of imperfection and judgmentalness within him and thus perhaps within the sefrah of Chesed would explain why it is in a state of oppositional duality and conflict with its counterpart Din. To accomplish Tikkun Olam, a repair and restoration of harmony, to fix this broken vehicle, the Cosmos, the Sefirot, I imagine that the broken parts need to be taken out of the vehicle altogether. Therefore, we need to consider and reimagine those two sefirah of Gevurah and Gedulah. My solution is to imagine them as Chesed/Loving Kindness and Tzedek/Justice. These two would no longer be oppositional dual concepts but complementary dual concepts that exist in harmony with each other. To give them symbolic personalities, I would imagine them as being embodied by Esther for Chesed and her uncle Mordechai for Justice. These two worked together to accomplish the goal of saving and preserving their people. Traditionally, the Left pillar was conceived of as the Feminine Pillar in oppositional duality with the Masculine Pillar of the Right. The Feminine Pillar within this sexist and Patriarchal tradition was always the lesser, the weaker, and the harboring of impurities and weakness. By reimagining the sefirah of Gevurah as Tzedek/Justice and personifying it as Mordechai, I have disrupted the sexist treatment of the Left Pillar as a flawed Feminine. In my complete reimagining of the Sefirot, Binah is considered as Yin while Hokmah is considered as Yang. Within the Dao de Jing, where these two dual forces are described, neither is imagined as pure form. Within each presence of Yin, there is a bit of Yang, and within each Yang, there is a bit of Yin. Yin and Yang are complementary and always in harmony. Thus, now it is the Yin Pillar of the Left and Yang Pillar of the Right and no longer the oppositional sexist configuration that existed in traditional Rabbinic Kabbalah that had the sexist and patriarchal conceptions built into all its workings.  My goal is to eliminate sexist and patriarchal conceptions in the Kabbalah by reimaging all the symbols as harmonious and complementary pairings.
Therefore, to return to my question: Can you solve, resolve, and establish harmony if you accept and envision the system in permanent disharmony and conflict? My answer is no, you cannot. To have Tikkun Olam, you have to assume that the system is in harmony with a new set of symbols that your acts of Tikkun Olam empower.
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 The Tree of Life and Knowledge is the sefirot. It is the thing that we must understand since we are bound up by it. It is always and forever connected to its roots, which are buried deep within Gan Eden. To study the sefirot, to study the Divine, is to examine that tree. That tree that grows in Gan Eden. Thus, whenever we wish to connect to the sefirot, we must enter sacred space and return to Gan Eden.
This book offers a guidebook for doing this kind of Qabalah work with the Tree of Life. This book is part of my ongoing project of reclaiming and reconstructing the Occult Qabalah based on rabbinic metaphors and symbols from the Zohar and Luria traditions of Jewish Kabbalah. In this book, you will find a reworking of the Middle Pillar meditation and a reworked Lesser Banishing Ritual of the Pentacle. I also provide a variety of Tarot spreads to help explore and understand the twenty paths of the Sefirot. In a way, this book is in the tradition of and replacement of Dion Fortune’s book The Mystical Qabalah. This book also presents a reworked theology to remove the elements of Patriarchy, sexism, and oppositional duality that have worked their way into rabbinic Judaism in general and spilled into the rabbis’ presentation of Kabbalah. In doing this, I utilize elements of Daoism as found in the Daodejing. To purchase click Link Source Material:
Bereshit Rabbah 3:7 Rabbi Judah bar Simon said: it does not say, 'Let there be evening,' but 'And it was evening.' Hence we derive that there was a time-system prior to this. Rabbi Abbahu said: This teaches us that God created worlds and destroyed them, saying, 'This one pleases me; those did not please me.' Rabbi Pinhas said, Rabbi Abbahu derives this from the verse, 'And God saw all that He had made, and behold it was very good,' as if to say, 'This one pleases me, those others did not please me.' https://www.sefaria.org/Bereishit_Rabbah.3.7?lang=bi Bereshit Rabbah 9:2 Alternately, "And God saw all that He had made, and behold it was very good." Rabbi Tanchuma began: (Eccl. 3:11) "He brings everything to pass precisely at its time." Rabbi Tanchuma said: The world was created at its time; the world was not appropriate for creation before this. Rabbi Abahu said: From this we learn that the Holy Blessed One was creating worlds and destroying them, creating worlds and destroying them, until he created these. He said, "This is good for me; those are not good for me." Rabbi Pinchas explained Rabbi Abahu's reasoning: "And God saw all (pl.) that He had made, and behold it was very good (sing.)." THIS is good for me; THOSE are not good for me. https://www.sefaria.org/Bereishit_Rabbah.9.2?lang=bi Referenced in Zohar 3:128a, p 325-326 & 3:135b p.380-381 The Kings of Edom in the Zohar section Idra Rabbah The Zohar: Pritzker Edition, Volume 8, translated and commentary by Daniel C. Matt, Stanford University Press, 2014. Zohar 3:128a, It has been taught—mysteries of mysteries: When Rabbi Shim'on opened, the Earth quaked and the Companions trembled. He revealed in mystery, and opened saying, "These are the kings who reigned in the land of Edom before a king reigned over the Children of Israel (Genesis 36:31). {Note 18: Rabbi Shim'on is about to reveal the secret meaning of a passage in Genesis (36:31-39). These kings do not constitute a dynasty since none of the successors to the throne is a son of his predecessor. In seven consecutive verses, Genesis records And (so and so ) died, and in the Zohar these royal deaths represent the destruction of unviable emanations tainted by harsh judgement (which is identified as Edom). Only of the final, eight king is a wife mentioned and no death recorded. The notion of earlier emanations that were destroyed recalls the rabbinic description of worlds that were previously destroyed. See Bereshit Rabbah 3:7.} [p325] …And what will the Companions say? For this verse is difficult, since it should not have been written so, because we see that there were numerous kings before the Children of Israel appeared and before they had a king, so what is intended here? {note 19: see Genesis 14 for example.} It has been taught: Before the Ancient of Ancients, Concealed of the Concealed, had prepared adornments of the King and crowns of crowns, there was neither beginning nor end. He engraved and gauged within Himself, and spread before Himself one curtain, in which he engraved and gauged kings, but His adornments did not endure. As is written: These are the kings who reigned in the land of Edom before a king reigned—Primordial King—over the Children of Israel, the Primordial One {Genesis 36:31} All those who had been engraved were called by name, but they did not endure, so He eventually put them aside and concealed them. Afterwards, He ascended in that curtain and was arrayed perfectly. {Note 20: The primordial manifestation of Ein Sof, through Keter is known as the Holy Ancient One (or the Ancient of Ancients). Before this primal power had emanated any of the other sefirotic adornments, there was nothing but Infinity. The Ancient of Ancients engraved royal images ("kings"), but these did not endure. Eventually, He was arrayed successfully in sefirotic configurations. The title Primordial King may refer to Binah, who was to rule over the lower sefirot, which can be pictured as 'the Children of Israel', namely of Tiferet Yisra'el, "the Primordial One".} [p.326] GMJ Commentary: The Zohar is 'merely' the level of Sod/Seed, aka mystical/Kabbalistic commentary on the TaNaK, just Talmud is 'merely' a commentary on the TaNaK. By this, I mean that in the textual form, they are part of the Oral Tradition collection of material that reflects insights into the Written Traditional text of the TaNaK. Each is presented as if they are merely a commentary on the text, yet each is intentionally and stylistically so much more than merely a collection of commentary. The Zohar text sited is weaving and building upon already existing ideas and comments on the Torah text. Thus it uses the comments from Bereshit Rabbah to weave them into the Genesis recounting of the Kings of Edom in Genesis 36:31-39. Why should the recounting of the Kings of Edom be noteworthy? That is the question the Zohar is raising. The underlying concept is that nothing in the TaNaK is put there without reason. So, everything can have meaning and mysteries that need to be unlocked. As Daniel Matt recounts in his notes, a commentary on a commentary text—such is the way of the rabbinic mind and method, the Genesis statement the whole analysis starts with a seeming puzzle: These are the kings who reigned in the land of Edom before a king reigned over the Children of Israel. The problem is that this list of the eight kings of Edom who reigned before the founding of the Saul-David Kings of the children of Israel is inaccurate. In Genesis 14, other kings are not included in the 36:31-39 list of kings. Therefore, it appears that the text in 36:31-39 is mistaken by overlooking other kings mentioned in chapter 14. The point is that there are kings named who were kings before the Saul-David line of kings of the Children of Israel. Since the text is Divine and nothing is written without meaningful intent, there must be a reason for this. Chapter 14 recounts many kings; thus, the text in chapter 36 focuses on specifically the kings of Edom must have some other significance beyond the Peshat—the literal interpretation of the text. The Zohar says yes, the Sod level is what is going to be explained now. To answer and explain the Sod level, the Zohar reminds us of the teachings in Bereshit Rabbah 3:2 and 9:7 about worlds, aka universes, created before our own existing world that we now inhabit. The Zohar takes the acknowledged legendary teaching stated in those passages as referring to this list of kings of Edom in Genesis 36. What is significant about this list of kings? Matt notes that 7 kings succeeded each other that came to power, not by familial dynastic lineage. Each of the kings listed had no mention of being the son of his predecessor. Only the 8th king has a wife and thus a child who succeeds him in his dynastic lineage. All of the other kings came into power and were swept aside; their lineage was undone. This is metaphorically the same as prior worlds being swept aside in a new one replacing it before our own universe came to be and remains. The Divine has the power to create the universe, destroy it, and recreate a new one. This is the power of the Divine as described in Bereshit Rabbah 3:2 and 9:7. To teach us this 'fact' is the reason that Genesis 36:31-39 was written so that we would be able to make the metaphoric link from kings without lineage to universes that were uncreated. At least, that is the explanation that is offered up by the Zohar text. Now, what is the logic of Bereshit Rabbah to state that there were prior worlds/universes? This is derived from considering Genesis 1: 31 "God saw all that he had made and found it very good." The rabbis of Bereshit Rabbah note the plurality of all and the singularity of it, and only it singular was very good; therefore, the plurality of all that precedes it must have not been good. Reading the line as if it were saying, 'God saw all the others that he had made, those were not good, but this one now made, it is very good.' We might not have made that leap of logic and considered that the line meant that prior creations to this one had existed, but the rabbis of Bereshit Rabbah did go there. Thus, the legend of other worlds was part of the rabbinic worldview. This requires that this idea should get some more mention and description someplace further in the text. The rabbis just naturally wanted more about such an interesting concept. Thus the Zohar gives us more information about this tantalizing bit of cosmic history in the commentary on the kings of Edom. As Daniel Matt's commentary explains, according to Zohar, the other kings, those other worlds, were an unsatisfying form of creation; it was only in our current form of creation that the complex and careful system of the sefirot was created as the underlying form of our universe as well as the underlying form of the Divine itself. Now, this is the point of the Zohar. However, Rabbi Isaac Luria adds a new mythological layer to the creation of our universe and the sefirot system. According to Luria, the whole process was initially flawed in the process of creating our current sefirot and thus our universe. A shattering of the spheres disrupted the harmonious creation of the sefirot and the universe. Right after the spheres shattered, the Divine had to recreate the remaining parts of the sefirot and thus rebuild the whole structure. Therefore, the Divine prior to this world had the power to create and uncreate worlds; however, with this world's creation, the cosmos was disrupted and rendered disharmonious, requiring acts of Tikkun Olam done by humans to finish the creation, to fix and repair creation. It is important to note that the Divine cannot perform Tikkun Olam to repair itself. Only we humans can do this. Therefore, Divine power in the process of creating the sefirot system that now exists has left Ayn Sof and poured out and flowed down into Malkuth, the last and final sefrah where we dwell. We humans here on Earth can tap into this Divine power to utilize it to perform Tikkun Olam. The Divine power of creation, the Divine Will that focuses and uses that Divine power of creation, no longer resides in Ayn Sof. Divine Will, Divine intention only resides in Malkuth. Only we humans can call forth our will to utilize the inherent power of Divine Will to transform creation. To illustrate this change in power centers, I proposed that we consider the different drawings of the sefirot in the following manner. The GRA's version of the sefirot includes Da'at and Malkuth, seemingly having a sefirot with eleven spheres. This cannot be, since the Sefer Yetzirah clearly teaches there is ten and not eleven; there are ten and not nine sefirahs. Therefore, only the ten spheres above Malkuth are Divinely active. Whereas our version of the sefirot, whose illustration accompanies the Zohar, does not include Da'at amongst the ten to make up the sefirot. This means that Malkuth, as I interpret it, is an integral part of the Divine power grid. In actuality, all of the Divine Will only resides in Malkuth; that is the conclusion I take, building upon the Zohar teaching and Luria's teaching. In Section 1:4 of the Sefer Yetzirah it reads:
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Garshom Yaron aka Gary Jaron has been exploring the Occult Qabalah and the Rabbinic Kabbalah since he was a teen.
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