The Shema Reading, the Tzitzit, Tefillin, and the Straps

(înapoi la pagina ZOHAR CUPRINS / PINCHAS – click)

285) One who reads the Shema reading morning and evening, it is as though he keeps the verse, “And you shall contemplate it day and night,” because the Shema reading includes within it right and left, day and night. A white Talit [prayer shawl]— the Talit in the Tzitzit with respect to the white in it, and not with the respect to the azure in it—is to the right, on the part of Hesed. It was said about it, “To a king sitting on the throne of mercy [Rachamim] and conducting himself in piousness.” It is also written, “And in mercy shall the throne be established.” Hesed amounts to AB (72), implying the seventy-two rings and knots in the Talit, which are four times eighteen.

286) There is a Talit on the part of Matat—the letters Tet of Matat, which include eighteen that exist among the knots and the rings on each side of the Talit. There are five knots corresponding to the five books of Moses [the Pentateuch]. The thirteen rings are thirteen bindings that are bounded on the Tzitzit, corresponding to the thirteen qualities of Rachamim in the Torah. The Torah is interpreted in thirteen qualities, which are the thirteen qualities of Rachamim, extended from the thirteen corrections of Dikna de AA.

287) It is written about Malchut, “as the appearance of a man upon it from above.” Malchut in the form of Tifferet is the glory of man upon it from above, and it is called by the name of TifferetYodVavDalet HeyAleph VavAlephVav HeyAleph. It is also written “All who are called by My name, and whom I have created, formed, and made for My glory.” Therefore, “as the appearance of a man upon it from above” is the Shechina, who is as the form of the middle pillar, Tifferet in four faces and in ten Sefirot, which are Adam, ten letters YodVavDalet HeyAleph VavAlephVav HeyAleph, which is Adam in Gematria (45). The four faces of Adam, the four simple letters, HaVaYaH, which together are fourteen letters, it is written about them, “And through the prophets I gave parables.”

288) Also, the Tzitzit is called Hay [HetYod, “alive,” eighteen (in Gematria)], which are thirteen rings and five knots on the part of the righteous, Yesod. Through his unification the Creator and His Shechina are called Adam, in HaVaYaH filled with the letters Aleph, which is Adam in Gematria. The middle pillar, ZA, is YodVavDalet HeyAleph VavAlephVav, which is thirty-nine in Gematria. His Shechina is HeyAleph, and in HeyAleph the name Adam was completed.

The thirty-nine amount to YodVavDalet HeyAleph VavAlephVav, and the righteous, who is called Hay, brings down the dew, YodVavDalet HeyAleph VavAlephVav, to the HeyAleph, the ShechinaYesod is the connection of the Talit, eighteen worlds on each side—five knots and thirteen rings, connecting and unifying the Creator with His Shechina on all sides, in the four ends of the Talit, HG TM.

289) Tefillin are the left line, as it is written, “The Lord has sworn by His right, and by the arm of His strength.” “By His right” is the Torah, and “By the arm of His strength” is Tefillin.

The four portions in the Tefillin are the four letters HaVaYaHADNI is a palace for four letters, four portions, in the four boxes of the Tefillin. The knot of the hand Tefillin is “the righteous one who lives forever,” Yesod, the connection of HaVaYaH ADNI, on the left arm. The knot of the head Tefillin is the middle pillar, Tifferet in which HaVaYaH EKYEH connect above, HB, since ZA rises and unites HBHaVaYaH EKYEH, and becomes Daat there.

290) The Shema reading is the unification in the middle, in HGT, and is gripped between the Tzitzit and the Tefillin. The Tzitzit is from the white, to his right, and the Tefillin is to his left. All the portions of Tzitzit and Tefillin are included in the unification of the Shema reading. With respect to the middle pillar, Talit and Tefillin, as it is written, “And it shall be a sign on your hand and frontals [Totafot] between your eyes.” And it is also written, “And they shall make for themselves tassels.”

There are three unifications:

  • In HBD it is HaVaYaH EKYEHHB, united by the Daat, the knot of the head Tefillin;
  • In NHYHaVaYaH ADNI, united by the Yesod, the knot of the hand Tefillin;
  • In HGTHaVaYaH Elokim, united by Tifferet.

The Shema reading, Tifferet, is the unification in the middle in HGT, between the upper unification, HaVaYaH EKYEH, and the lower unification, HaVaYaH ADNI. For this reason, the Shema reading is Talit and Tefillin, where the Talit is on the right, and the Tefillin is on the left.

291) The Shin in the Tefillin is the law for Moses out of Sinai. It is written, “And all the nations of the earth shall see that the name of the Lord is called upon you, and will fear you.” The name HaVaYaH is the head Tefillin, the two letters Shin of the Tefillin, seen upon them from both sides from without.

The two letters Shin are 600. Shin Shin are six degrees HGT NHY. In ZA, the right Shin is HGT, and the left Shin is NHY. With the seven branches in the two letters Shin, they are thirteen, since the right Shin has three Roshim [heads], and the left one has four Roshim. Together they are seven Roshim, seven branches, and together they are 613.

Seven branches and six degrees are thirteen. The Gematria of the two letters Shin is 600. There is no Mitzva [commandment] that is not equal to the whole of Torah; this is why it is written, “And all the nations of the earth shall see that the name of the Lord is called upon you.”

292) As 613 are implied in the Tefillin, each Mitzva is HaVaYaH, where the YodHey in it, with My name, adds up to 365 negative Mitzvot [commandments to avoid certain actions], and VavHey in it with My remembrance adds up to 248 positive Mitzvot [commandments to perform certain actions]. Together, they are 613. This is why each Mitzva is tantamount to 613.

Shema Israel, the Shema reading, which includes Tefillin and Tzitzit, comprises all 613 with respect to the Tzitzit, since in GematriaTzitzit is 600, and with the thirteen rings in them they are 613. It also contains 613 with respect to the Tefillin in the two letters Shin in them.

293) “And they shall be as frontals [Totafot] between your eyes.” Totafot consist of the letters TetTet PehTav. In GematriaTetTet is eighteen worlds, TzadikYesod. Opposite him is Matat, since Yesod dresses in Matat. PehTav is Tifferet, the letters TavAlephReish PehTav.

Matat is the horse of Tifferet, on which the Tifferet rides. It is so because all the Sefirot clothe in Matat. Once Tifferet dresses in him, once Yesod, once Malchut, and once all three of them. He is to them as the body for the soul. When the Creator departs from him, Matat remains mute, soundless, and speechless.

It follows that the Creator and His Shechina are the voice and speech of every angel, and they are in every voice and speech of the Torah, in the voice of the prayer, and in every Mitzva. In all the places of His governance, in the upper and in the lower, He is the life of everything; He tolerates everything.

294) There is no ADNI without HaVaYaH, as there is no speech without a voice, and no voice without a speech. This is true in the world of Atzilut, where there is no separation between ZA and Malchut, voice and speech. But in the separated world, in the three worlds BYA, there is a voice without speech. However, in the world of Atzilut they are united, and a knot of TefillinShadaiYesod, grips them above and below. This is the righteous one who lives forever, gripping between voice and speech, and uniting them.

295) Tefillin and Tzitzit and Mezuzah are three Mitzvot included in the Shema reading. The Shema reading is the fourth Mitzva, and they correspond to HG TM, since Tzitzit and Tefillin are HG, the Shema reading is Tifferet that unites them and Mezuzah is Malchut.

Tzitzit is mentioned three times, opposite the three lines. In the Tefillin, “token” is mentioned twice. This is Yesod, corresponding to two knots, the knot of the hand Tefillin, and the knot of the head Tefillin. In the Tzitzit, we must thoroughly emphasize the letter Zayin of Tizkeru [remember], which implies Malchut, the seventh Sefira, the azure in the Tzitzit, on which remembering depends.

In the MezuzahMalchut, the name Shadai is [written] without, and the name HaVaYaH is [written] within, since there are two Zivugim in her, an external Zivug, with Yesod, and an internal one, with Tifferet.

296) Why are there closed portions and open portions (see item 310)? Why was it established that the width of the Tzitzit would be twelve thumbs (see item 297)? Why is the Mitzva of azure, one third fringe, and two thirds branch (see item 297)? Why must there be a space of a thumb between each two knots in the Tzitzit (see item 301)?

Why must each ring be tripled, three bindings (see item 298)? Why are the Tefillin in the brain and opposite the heart, and the measure of the straps is up to the heart on the left, and up to the navel on the right (see item 456)? Why is the hand strap to be bound three times in the middle finger, which is called Amah (see item 299)? Why is the measuring done with thumbs and not with the rest of the fingers (see item 301)?

297) An important garment has three by three to each of the four sides, which are twelve. They correspond to the four white garments opposite ZA, which is the four letters HaVaYaH, and the four gold garments, corresponding to Malchut, which is the four letters ADNI, and the four garments of the uneducated priest, Matat. On the part of the blessing of the uneducated priest we learn “Do not slight the blessing of an uneducated.”

For this reason, the azure is a third of the fringe, meaning woven, and thirteen rings are bound on the Tzitzit, as it corresponds to the four white garments, ZA, the root, and two thirds of a branch that must be hung like branches in a tree.

The length of the Tzitzit is twelve thumbs, corresponding to twelve kinds of garments: four white garments of ZA, four gold garments of Malchut, and four garments of the uneducated priest, Matat. The azure is one third fringe and two thirds branch, since the one third of the fringe corresponds to the four white garments of ZA, the root. The two thirds of the branch correspond to the eight garments of Malchut and Matat, the branches of ZA.

298) Each ring must be tripled, made of three bindings, since each triplet from the side of Kedusha is three lines, as it is written, “They will give You threefold Kedusha [holiness].” Israel is a triplet: priests, Levites, and Israelites. To subdue the two thirds of the Sitra Achra, as it is written, “And officers over all of them” [in Hebrew: Shalishim (from the word three) means “officers”)]. A Tzitzit relates to the middle pillar, Tifferet, the third among the patriarchs, since the patriarchs are HGT, and any triplet, its root is a name of seventy-two words, which begins with the words VavHeyVav YodLamedYod, where each word is tripled, having three letters.

With respect to the middle pillar, the ring consists of three tripled bindings. The ring is the Shechina, as it is written, “They will give You threefold Kedusha [holiness].” It is tripled in the middle pillar because from the middle pillar she receives the three lines in it. For this reason, she consists of the three branches of the patriarchs, NHY, which are the branches of HGT, who are called patriarchs. They are the Shin from Shabbat [Sabbath], in which there are three Roshim [heads], NHYBetTav of Shabbat implies the Shechina, an only daughter. This is a ring, the azure in the Tzitzit.

299) How fortunate is the body that is inscribed so in the Shechina and in the Creator on the wings of a Mitzva, in the thirteen rings in the Mitzva of Tzitzit.

It is inscribed in the strap of the hand Tefillin, on the middle finger, in three bindings, which, like the ring, is bound in three bindings on the finger. This also corresponds to the three lines, as with the ring of the Tzitzit, and they are fourteen rings.

It is inscribed in a knot of Tefillin, which includes two knots, a knot of the hand Tefillin, and the knot of the head Tefillin, which are also tripled. They add up to fifteen triangles, since two knots in one knot are regarded as a triangle, hence they are fifteen triangles.

The thirteen rings in the Tzitzit are thirteen triangles. With one triangle of a hand strap on the middle finger they are fourteen triangles. With the triangle in the knot of Tefillin, which includes two knots within it—like the middle line, which is considered a triangle because it contains two lines in it—they are fifteen triangles.

300) Thirteen tripled rings have thirty-nine in bindings in them, as the number of Tal [dew, 39 in Gematria]. With the actual thirteen rings, which are the same number as Ehad [AlephHetDalet] (13), they add up to BON (52). This implies Ben [son of] YodHey, the middle line, ZA.

301) Each knot is in the shape of the right palm. Each ring is in the shape of a finger with three joints, opposite three bindings. Likewise, in each finger there are three joints, except for the thumb, in which there are only two joints. This is the measure between each two knots in the Tzitzit, which must be the space of a full thumb.

This is the measure of the nose, and the measure of the right and left eyes. It is also the measure between each two eyes, and the measure of the right and left ears, and the measure of each lip, and the measure of the tongue, the same measure to all the sheets.

Once the middle line has united the two lines—left and right—with one another, and the Hochma in the left was included in the Hassadim on the right, and the Hassadim on the right were included in the Hochma on the left, three lines are discerned in the middle line itself. He inherited two lines, right and left, because he caused their illumination and their unification with each other, which is the form of the middle line.

However, he cannot disclose the work of their unification with each other, such as in the Rosh, because the GAR de Hochma have been diminished through the middle line and are gone, and the work of uniting the two lines is not apparent in them at all, but only with respect to VAK de Hochma, which are in the Guf and not in the Rosh. It follows that in the Rosh, the middle line has only two lines which it inherited from the upper one, but its own act, which is the middle line, is missing there, and it includes only two lines. Hence there are two discernments in the fingers: 1) the thumb, in which there are only two joints, opposite the middle line in the Rosh, in which there are only two lines, and 2) the rest of the fingers, in which there are three joints, opposite the middle line in the Guf, in which there are three lines.

302) An Amah [cubit] is the measure of the body to the four sides, and above and below, which are six cubits. In each Amah there are three joints, three lines. There are eighteen joints in six Amot [pl. of Amah], and they are the eighteen shakes of the Lulav that we shake to six directions, three shakes to each side. It is written about them, “Your stature is like a palm tree,” as Tamar [palm tree] is seventy-two, which are ZAT de Guf, where the Hochma appears, the stature, and not in the Rosh.

This is why the level [stature], GAR, resembles the palm tree, and this is a stature that is only in the Guf, for the Mikveh [ritual bath] of Israel, ZA, imparts to the ShechinaMikveh has the letters of Komah [stature/level], meaning that ZA imparts this Komah of Guf to Malchut. Also, we shake the Lulav four times when we say Hallel [praise], which are four times eighteen. These four times add up to seventy-two, where the name AB [seventy-two] is the root of the three lines, which are the verses, “And went,” “and came,” “and pitched.”

303) It is written about the animals and their level, “They had backs, they were high, and they were frightening, and their backs were full of eyes around the four of them.” “They had backs” meaning the four animals of the lower Merkava, from Malchut. “They were high” refers to the four animals in the middle MerkavaZA. “And their backs” is the four animals of the third Merkava, from Bina. All together, they are twelve. The four animals of the third Merkava are full of eyes around the four of them, around the four of the third, upper Merkava.

They are HaVaYaHHaVaYaHHaVaYaH, three HaVaYot in the verse, “The Lord [HaVaYaH] is king, the Lord was king, the Lord will be king forever and ever,” in which there are twelve letters. “The Lord is king” is the middle Merkava. “The Lord was king” is the third, upper Merkava. “The Lord will be king forever and ever” is the lower Merkava.

(înapoi la pagina ZOHAR CUPRINS / PINCHAS – click)

error: Content is protected !!