It starts with a passage of Zohar. Zohar 1: 232a:
From The Zohar: Pritzker Edition translation and commentary by Daniel C. Matt, Stanford University Press, 2006, v. III, pp402-403 He opened, saying ‘The angel redeeming me from all evil (Genesis 48:16). This has been discussed and established, but come and see! It is written: Here, I am sending an angel before you (Exodus 23:20). This is the angel who is Redeemer of the world, protection of human beings. This is the one who arranges blessings for the whole world, receiving them first and them providing them in the world. Therefore, ‘Here I am sending an angel before you’ (Exodus 23:20), and similarly: ‘I will send an angel before you and I will drive out’ (Exodus 33:2). This angel is sometimes male and sometimes female. [Within the limits of the rabbinic mind the male is dominate and female is submissive. Hence they can’t imagine an active female. It is best to think of this not in sexual gender terms but in the conceptual duality of Yin and Yang. GMJ] When providing blessings, it is called male and called Male—like a male providing blessings for a female, so He [the active Yang Shekhinah. GMJ] provides blessing for the world. And when it [Shekinah GMJ] stands in judgment over the world, it is called Female—like a female who is pregnant [as Daniel Matt notes the reference to pregnant is alluding to a pun since the Hebrew word for pregnant and wrath have the same consonants but different vowels.] , so She is filled the judgment and is then called Female. Thus sometimes it is called Male [Yang] and sometimes Female [Yin], all one mystery. From The Wisdom of Zohar: An Anthology of Texts by Isaiah Tishby, Littman Library of Jewish Civilization, 1983, v. 1, pg 372: Malkuth’s activity of ruler of the world, alluded to at the end of this passage [Zohar 1:232a], presents us with a completely new view of its status. It is now seen as being outside the system of the sefirot, and in this position it undergoes further changes. [I disagree with the idea of it being outside the 10 sefirot. I think that this is its true function within the system. GMJ] In relation to the upper world it is the last link in the chain of emanation, action as a receptacle for the supernal flow of influence, and representing the extreme limit of divine being. [The following seems to me to refer to the being known as the Shekhinah that dwells in the sefrah Malkuth. GMJ] In relation to the lower world, however it is the very beginning and highest point, assuming the role of mother and ruler of the world. When looked at in this way, it is presented as a parallel force to the three upper sefirot, and it is given their names. Like the first sefirah, which stands at the head of the divine order of things as supernal Keter, it is called ‘attrah’ (crown), also called ‘razon’ (will). Keter is the hidden Will, preceding Thought, stimulating it, and setting it in motion; and Malkuth is the will that puts into practice the idea that occur within Thought. In relation to the second sefirah, Hokhmah, the creative wisdom of Thought, Malkuth is called ‘the lower Hokhmah’, that is, the wisdom of practical affairs and government. Both of them are envisaged as a point: Hokhmah as the very first point in the development of the forces of emanation, and Malkuth as the topmost point of the worlds, where the whole of non-divine existence is concentrated before it spreads outward. This parallel with Binah is mainly one of femininity and motherhood: the upper mother and the lower mother. But the importance of the connection here is further enhanced by the use of the named ‘Shekinah’, which is applied to both of them: an upper Shekhinah and a lower Shekhinah. The parallel in this case proceeds from lower to upper. The name ‘Shekhinah’ is assigned first to Malkuth, and from there it is transferred to Binah. In aggadic literature the Shekhinah is the divine presence, existing and active in the world and among the people of Israel. It is identified in kabbalistic doctrine with the last sefirah in its capacity as the ruler of the world, and as ‘the Assembly of Israel’ in the realms above, a designation reserved exclusively for Malkuth. Now, since the activity of Binah in the upper worlds is similar to the activity of Malkuth in the lower worlds [i.e. the physical world that humanity lives in. GMJ], it [Binah] is also called the ‘upper Shekhinah’. We see revealed in the image of the Shekhinah the features of Malkuth as it turns away from its place and from its links with the sefirotic system, toward nondivine existence.
0 Comments
|
Garshom Yaron aka Gary Jaron has been exploring the Occult Qabalah and the Rabbinic Kabbalah since he was a teen.
|