– SURSĂ DE TEXTE FUNDAMENTALE, CĂRŢI, CURSURI, LECŢII, ÎN LIMBA ROMÂNĂ –
Autor: arhiprofesor
Rene Guenon spunea candva ca numai prostii cred ca se pot initia singuri. Intotdeuna ai nevoie de un maestru. Dar cartea ramane o sursa de imbogatire a cunostintelor noastre fara de care nici maestrii nu-si pot desavarsi lucrarea. Biblioteca de arhitectura este pentru un arhitect tot atat de importanta cat experimentarea in concret a trairii fiecarui spatiu arhitectural.
289) “Under three things the earth quakes … under a slave when he becomes king.” There is none so low, vile, and ignoble before the Creator as the Egyptians. Yet, the Creator gave them dominion over Israel. “The maidservant that is heir to her mistress is Hagar, who bore Ishmael. Ishmael did several wrongs to Israel: he ruled over them, tormented them with various torments, declared several destructions of them, and to this day they overtake them and do not let them be in their tenet. There is no such harsh exile for Israel as the exile in Ishmael.
290) Rabbi Joshua was going up to the Jerusalem. While on the way, he saw an Arab walking with his son. They met a Jew. The Arab told his son, this Jew is defiled because his Master loathes him. Smear him and spit on his beard seven times, for he is from the seed of the upper ones, from Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and I know that seventy nations are enslaved to them. His son went and grabbed the Jew’s beard. Rabbi Joshua said, “High ones, High ones,” meaning he prayed by ancestral merit, “I declare that the upper ones, the Arab, and his son, who consider themselves superior to the Jews, shall come down.” Before Rabbi Joshua completed his words, they were swallowed in the ground where they stood.
283) While the Creator was giving the Torah to Israel, it is written, “And he was there with the Lord.” While He was writing the Torah for Israel, they left their good smell and said, “These are your gods, O Israel.” Also, giving means leaving.
284) “While the king sat at his table,” meaning while the Creator was coming down upon Mount Sinai to give the Torah to Israel, “My spikenard sent forth its scent,” gave its good smell, as it is written that they said, “We shall do and we shall hear.”
285) Every nation has a minister above. When the Creator gives government to one, He lowers the other. And when He gave dominion to that minister of Egypt, He had dominion only because of Israel, as it is written, “Her adversaries become the head.”
286) Israel are equal to all the other nations of the world. As the rest of the nations are seventy, Israel are seventy, as it is written, “All the souls of the house of Jacob, that came into Egypt, were seventy.” And the ruler of Israel, it is as though he rules over the entire world.
287) This means that Israel are seventy, as it is written, “And the children of Israel were fruitful, and increased abundantly, and multiplied, and became mighty exceedingly and extraordinarily.” Thus, there are seven degrees here, and each degree consists of ten, thus seventy. After that, it is written, “And a new king arose over Egypt,” meaning that because of its dominion over Israel, which are opposite the seventy nations, he was regarded as a new king.
288) Israel were enslaved by all the nations so that the world would rise through them, since they are opposite the whole world. It is written, “In that day shall the Lord be One, and His name one.” And as the Creator is one, Israel are one, as it is written, “One nation in the land.” As the name of the Creator is “One,” and spreads in seventy names, Israel are one and spread into seventy.
282) “While the king sat at his table, my spikenard sent forth its scent.” “While the king” means the Creator, as it is written, “Thus said the Lord, King of Israel,” and as it is written, “And there was a king in Jeshurun.” “At his table” means among the wings of the Cherubim, by the ark of the covenant. “My spikenard sent forth its scent,” meaning it caused the Creator to depart from among them. “Sent forth its scent” means their bad smell.
280) The Creator made two oaths to Jacob—that He would go down to dwell in exile with him, and that at the time of redemption, He would raise him from his grave to see the joy of the camp of holiness of the Merkavot and the angels that dwelled with his sons in exile. It is written about that, “I will go down with you into Egypt,” in the exile, “And I will also surely bring you up again,” at the time of redemption. Ascent means redemption, as it is written, “And [I will] cause you to come up out of your graves, O My people,” and as it is written, “There the tribes went up.”
281) “And a new king arose.” On that day, the minister of Egypt was given authority so he would prevail over all other nations. Until the death of Joseph, Egypt was not given government over Israel. When Joseph died, “A new king arose over Egypt.” “Arose,” as in falling and rising, since on that day the minister of Egypt was grown.
272) These Merkavot [assemblies] and holy camps are the twelve tribes that are carved above, in Divinity. When they came down, everyone came to dwell with them, as it is written, “They came each man with his household,” relating to the angels that came to dwell with the sons of Israel in Egypt. Reuben, Shimon, Levi, and all the others imply the forms of the twelve tribes in Divinity.
273) “And these are the names of the sons of Israel, who come into Egypt with Jacob.” It begins with “The sons of Israel” and ends with, “With Jacob,” which says that this portion returns from the sons of Israel to Jacob, meaning the sons of Israel descended to the degree of sons of Jacob.
274) When Israel went into exile, all the souls of the tribes gathered at the Cave of Machpelah. They cried out and said, “Grandfather, Grandfather!” In all the labor in this world, there is nothing like the pain of the sons. “Your sons are all enslaved in hard labor by others, and every vengeance in the world is inflicted upon them.”
275) At that time, that spirit of the grandfather, meaning Jacob, awakened, asked permission, and descended into Egypt. He called unto the Creator, to all His Merkavot and camps, and to their king, and Divinity was leading them. They all came down with Jacob and with his tribes. The tribes came down alive to Egypt with their father, and they also came down dead to Egypt with their father, as it is written, “And these are the names of the sons of Israel, who come into Egypt.” It is also written, “Reuben, Shimon, Levi,” who were now dead but went down to Egypt. It is written, “And Joseph was in Egypt,” since his spirit did not part with Egypt after his demise, compelling him to come back down like the rest of the tribes. Joseph, “Like as a father has compassion on his children,” did not part with them even after his demise.
266) All the grass of the land have strong ministers were appointed in heaven, since there is not a single blade of grass on earth that does not have a star and a sign in the firmament that strikes and tells it, “Grow!” Also, each has its own meaning, just as they have special appointees above, and one appointee does not interfere with the other, and one who seeds a mixture confuses their dominion over one another. It is written about that, “Do you know the ordinances of the heavens or fix their rule over the earth?” It is also written, “He calls them all by name,” and all that is in the world has a meaning in and of itself, and the Creator did not wish to suspend it from its place and mix it with another. And he calls each of the sons of Jacob by a name, for they are holy tribes, the persistence of the world, and it is even more so, as it is written, “These are the names of the sons of Israel.”
267) Had it said, “These are the names,” it would mean that so it is. But “These are the names of the sons of Israel” implies the importance of the tribes that sustain the world. Now that it is written, “And these are the names” with an extra Vav [in Hebrew], it implies that he adds to the first.
The name, “Israel,” implies ascent and importance, and the name Jacob implies descent. And since it writes here, “The sons of Israel,” it is said about the importance of the tribes. But because of the added Vav when it says, “And these,” it indicates that it is connected to the previous writings and stands after the death of Jacob and Joseph and the tribes, when they came to a descent in degree and were called “the sons of Jacob.” And even though the writing says, “The sons of Israel,” it is not because of importance, since in terms of degree, they have already fallen to the degree of the sons of Jacob. Rather, it is for another reason: it is in Jacob’s honor.
268) When the Creator said, “I will go down with you to Egypt,” would you even consider that Divinity descended with him right at that moment, that as soon as they came into Egypt, the sons of Jacob were in the state of descent? Rather, when his sons had a descent, Divinity descended, as it is written, “I will go down with you to Egypt, and I will also surely bring you up again,” meaning as long as you will have an ascent, I will have an ascent, as well. And when you have a descent, I will go down with you. And after Joseph and all his brothers died, meaning had a descent, Divinity stood and went down with them. As the sons of Israel went down, Divinity and her Merkavot [assemblies] went down.
269) It is written, “And Joseph died, being a hundred and ten years old.” When Joseph died and all the tribes had a descent, the sons of Israel descended into exile and Divinity, and the high angels went down with them. It is written, “And these are the names of the sons of Israel,” where the Vav of “And these” is added to the first, after the death of Joseph and his brothers, descending to exile. This is why they are necessarily the sons of Jacob, meaning in descent.
270) Thus, was Jacob dead or not? It is written, “Who come into Egypt with Jacob.” Remove the name Jacob from there, since he has already died, since the Vav adds to the first. However, the writing did not say, “Who came down into Egypt with Jacob” because thus far, Jacob did not have a descent. Instead, it writes, “Who came.”
We learned that Divinity and the twelve tribes in her came to Egypt with Jacob. They went from there until they came down to the exile, after the death of Jacob and the tribes, and then they came down with them, meaning Divinity and her twelve tribes. This is why it writes, “And these are the names of the sons of Israel,” referring to their great merit and importance, since it concerns the days of ascent, not the days of descent.
271) Each and every day, Divinity and the twelve tribes in her and go their way. This is the meaning of the words, “Who come into Egypt,” in present tense, and not, “Who came,” in past tense. First it writes, “Who come into Egypt with Jacob,” relating to prior to the descent. Afterwards, when they had a descent, it writes, “They came each man with his household,” which is past tense. By that time, the sons of Jacob had all died and went down into exile.
263) “God has made one opposite the other.” As there is in the firmament, the Creator made on earth. And all that exists on earth implies to what exists above in the firmament. When Rabbi Abba saw a tree whose fruit became a bird that fled from it, he cried and said, “If people knew what they were implying, they would tear their clothes to their navels for having forgotten the wisdom.” It is even more so with the rest of the things that the Creator has done on earth.
264) The trees from which Hochma [wisdom] is seen are Carob, Palm, and Pistachio, which is a kind of nut tree. They are all comprised of one composition, since all the fruit-bearing trees are one, implying to Tifferet, except for apples, which are NHY. Only the paths in them are separate because each tree has a special path in which it shines.
265) All the big trees that do not bear fruit, except for willows, have their own meaning, such as above, for they are NH and nurse from the same nursing. This means that they nurse from the externality, from another god, which does not bear fruit. Conversely, all the small trees, except for the hyssop, which implies Yesod, were born from the same mother, Nukva.
259) “I went down into the garden of nut trees.” This garden comes out of Eden, and it is Divinity. A nut is the high, holy Merkava [structure], the four heads of the rivers that part from the garden, meaning the four faces—faces of a lion, ox, eagle, and man. This nut has four holy heads inside, in its fruit. It also has four shells that cover the fruit, implying to the four Klipot [shells]—stormy wind, great cloud, blazing fire, and brightness—like the upper Merkava. And the reason why he said, “I went down,” meaning “I went down into the garden of nut trees,” is that it is as though a person goes down to the Merkava.
260) Thus, he should have said, “I went down to the nut,” which is the Merkava. Why does he say, “I went down into the garden of nut trees”? It is because the garden, Malchut, is all the praise in the nut, which grows and emerges from this garden. This is why he mentions primarily the garden. And why is the Merkava implied in the nut? As a nut is blocked and hidden from all sides inside its shell, the Merkava that emerges from the garden, from Malchut, is blocked from all its sides. As those four heads in the nut connect at their center and separate outwards, the four faces of the Merkava conjoin in unity, joy, and wholeness, and part each to the discernment on which it was appointed.
At their center, the four faces are united with each other. The illumination of the three lines, the unity from the right line, the joy in the left line, and the wholeness in the middle line are in each, without any differences. In that respect, they are united. However, with respect to their role in bestowing upon the lower ones, they are separated, and each enhances its own essence.
The face of a lion—right—imparts Hassadim.
The face of an ox—left—imparts Hochma.
The face of an eagle—middle—imparts merged abundance.
The face of a man has a role of disclosing the Hassadim in illumination of Hochma.
In that respect, each is separated from the other.
261) What does this dirt in the shell of the nut mean, that is, in the four shells that surround it? Even though the Torah did not reveal it, for it speaks only of the good in the nut, it reveals it in the almonds. This is because the Torah speaks of the four shells in almonds, which imply particularly to the Din, and not to the good side in them.
262) In almonds, some are bitter because of their shells, and some are sweet. This implies that there are those of harsh Din, implied by the bitter almonds. And some are of service, who serve holiness. Those are implied by the sweet almonds. However, we see that each intimation of them—disclosed in the Torah—is Din, and she does not speak of the good in them, which are the sweet ones. So it is with Jeremiah, who was shone the Din in them, as it is written, “I see a rod of an almond-tree.”
What is an almond? A real almond. He was told, “For I watch over [Shoked, same letters as Shaked (almond)] My word to perform it”, “To root out, to pull down, and to destroy.” In Aaron’s rod, too, it said, “And bore ripe almonds,” which became a symbol for those who are rebellious. Thus, the Torah speaks only from the aspect of Din in them. And from the word itself, “almonds [Shkedim],” it implies that it is harsh Din, as it is written, “And so the Lord has watched over [Yshkod] the evil,” and also, “For I watch over My word to perform it.”
Thus, the word Shaked [almond] implies harsh Din. This means that all that the Creator does is to learn great wisdom from Him, as it is written, “The Lord has done all things for His own purpose.” It is also written, “And God saw all that He has done, and it was very good,” meaning that it is good to learn the high wisdom from Him.
257) Eighteen mountains of the upper persimmon is YesoddeBina. It contains nine Sefirot of Ohr Yashar [direct light] and nine Sefirot of Ohr Hozer [reflected light], thus, eighteen mountains. The souls of the righteous, meaning the Merkava [structure] for Yesod, enter, meaning raise MAN. And forty-nine scents, which are the fifty gates of Bina minus one, rise each day from Bina to the place called “Eden,” Hochma. Correspondingly, the Torah was given with forty-nine impure faces and with forty-nine pure faces. Because of the lack of the fiftieth gate, forty-nine impure faces came out, as it is written, “God has made them one opposite the other.”
There are also the forty-nine letters in the names of the tribes, and the forty-nine days of the count to receive the Torah, in which there are the forty-nine high days of ZON, which stand to receive permission—to be corrected on each of these forty-nine days—from the glowing stones that are filled with engravings of that breastplate. These twelve receive from the twelve mountains of persimmon, and by that, the ZATdeZON, which consist of seven, are corrected—through the Omer count.
258) The one who wears the breastplate, ZA in Mochin deGadlut, sits in the precious, holy throne, which shines in Malchut, called “throne.” The four pillars of the throne—Michael, Gabriel, Uriel, and Raphael—stand and look at the breastplate, meaning receive from these twelve stones that shine in it. They come and go by the word of the one who wears the breastplate, meaning that all the lights and corrections extend from the twelve lights in the breastplate, which extend from the twelve lights in Bina. They raise their eyes and look up, and see the fringe that burns in six hundred and twenty sides. This implies to Keter, which is 620 in Gematria, for it is tied on the forehead and on the skull, and the Holy Name is carved on it. They shake and startle and the pillars are tied on the right side, ZA. And the left, Malchut, takes the pillars of the heaven in her hands, meaning the three lines in ZA, which sorts and discloses them, as it is written, “And the heavens shall be rolled together as a scroll.”
ZA sits on the four-pillar throne, on Malchut that has four pillars, HGTM, and those four pillars are tied in ZA, which leans to the right, meaning shines for them in covered Hassadim that are not revealed in illumination of Hochma. However, Malchut, left, sorts them through extension of Hochma and discloses them through clothing of the Hochma in Hassadim. At that time the four pillars, HG TM, become four pillars, in each of which are HGT, which shine in disclosed Hassadim, as it is written, “And the heavens shall be rolled together as a scroll.” And it is after that that Malchut is called “the revealed world.”
253) There is nothing that the Creator loves more than the prayer of the righteous. Even though He desires it, at times He does what they ask and at times He does not.
254) Our sages said, once the world needed rain. Rabbi Elazar came and declared forty fasts, but rain did not come. He prayed a prayer but rain did not come. Rabbi Akiva came and prayed and said, “The blower of wind,” and a strong and harsh wind blew. He said, “He who brings down rain,” and a torrent came down. Rabbi Elazar’s mind was weak. Rabbi Akiva looked at his face and sensed the weakness of his mind.
255) Rabbi Akiva stood before the people and said, “I will give you an allegory. What is this like? Rabbi Elazar is like one who is loved by the king, whom the king loves more than anyone. When he comes before the king, he is welcome, so he does not wish to grant him his wish quickly, so he would not depart him, because he wishes for him to speak to him. I, however, am like the king’s servant, who makes a request before him and the king does not wish that he will come into the palace, much less speak to him. The king says, ‘Grant him his wish immediately lest he will enter.’
“Thus, Rabbi Elazar is the king’s beloved one and I am a servant. The king wishes to speak to him everyday and to not part from him. But as for me, the king does not wish for me to come into the palace so he grants my wish immediately.” Rabbi Elazar was appeased.
256) Rabbi Elazar told him, “Akiva, come and I will tell you something that I saw in a dream. This verse, where it is written, ‘And you, do not pray for this people,’ due to the iniquity of the generation, the prayer for them is not accepted. And yet, it is said, ‘And you, do not pray for them,’ which means that others can pray. This is why I was not granted but you were granted. Moreover, there are discernments for which no righteous in the world can pray.”
Come and see, the twelve mountains of persimmon, which are HGTMdeBina, called “Persimmon,” are included in one another so that each of them consists of HGT, and they are twelve. But Malchut does not shine, even in Malchut, before the end of correction. The one who wears a breastplate and an ephod [vest] entered, meaning raised MAN. This relates to ZA, whose Tifferet is called breastplate, and to Malchut, which is called “ephod.” The twelve stones in the breastplate receive from the twelve lights of Bina, and the twelve of the ephod receive from the twelve of the breastplate. Yet, in them, too, Malchut does not shine as in Bina.
He prayed to the Creator, meaning raised MAN to Bina, to have mercy on the world, to complete the correction in Malchut, herself, too, so she will shine like HGT. But thus far, his prayer was not accepted. Thus, there are discernments for which the prayer is not heard. Hence, why was Rabbi Elazar’s mind weak? Was it because he saw in his dream, “And you, do not pray,” which implies that another could pray? It was because people did not know it and thought that his merit was lesser than the merit of Rabbi Akiva’s.
