Monday, July 6, 2009

The Sixth Day

There is an ancient Jewish tradition, based on Tehillim 90:4, that the six days of creation in Breishit chapter 1 are a hint at six thousand years of human history. See Sanhedrin 97a, and the Ramban to Breishit 2:3, and chapter 1 of Sifra diTzniuta. Of all the days of the week, we only have an exact hour by hour description for the sixth day, as is explained in a few sources.

Aside from an hour by hour description of the events of the sixth day, we also have two traditions regarding how to count the hours. In Pirkei d'Rebbi Eliezer, we have that an hour is one thousand years divided in to twelve parts, meaning there is no creation at night, therefore the night is as if it didn't exist. Therefore an hour is 83 and 1/3 years.
In Kol haTor, the sixth millennium is divided in to twenty four parts, so that each hour is 41 and 2/3 years.
We must understand that these are both words of the living G-d. The application of this idea has ramifications for our time.
Twelve Hours over the Sixth Millennium
  • Hour 1. 5000 - 5083.33 Hashem gathers the dust. After the close of the fifth millennium, a day that is all exile, the Zohar is revealed.
  • Hour 4. 5250 - 5333.33 A Neshamah is blown in him. The Torah of the Arizal is brought to the world.
  • Hour 7. 5500 - 5583.33 Chava was paired for him. A time of separation between the Moshiachs.
  • Hour 10. 5750 - 5833.33. He sinned. It is taught in Kabbalah that the root cause of Adam haRishon's sin is the same root as the Erev Rav. The Arizal taught in Shaar haGilgulim that the last generation would be a reincarnation of the Erev Rav. Kol haTor teaches that the generation before the end would end in 5750, so this reincarnation, it is implied, begins immediately thereafter. The point here is that now is the time to repair the problems that have been lingering around since the very beginnings of Am Yisrael in the desert some 3300 years ago.
The twelve hour story is that of Am Yisrael, led by the two Moshiachs, bringing about a repair for what went wrong in Gan Eden at the beginning of history by fixing the mistakes of the Generation of the Desert. It is therefore incumbent upon us to study well the mistakes made in the Desert, and determine how to escape repeating those same follies.
Twenty Four Hours over the Sixth Millennium
In his commentary to chapter 5 of Sifra diTzniuta, the GR"A explains how the Six Days of Creation hint at certain developments in the upper world. Here is a quote:
And on the the sixth day "Let the land bring forth (living creatures)", and afterwards, when the Chair is complete, "Let us make the man", the tikkunim of Nukva and its Nesirah, and afterwards male and female of Briah, and the coupling of male and female as said before.
And we know in specific that the GR"A was referring to the hours, as he wrote a little bit afterwards:
And know, that all of these days are a hint to the six thousand years, which are the six days, as it is said above in chapter one, that the six thousand years are dependent on the six first (days). And all the details, which are in these six days, they are in effect in the six thousand years, each one in its day and hour.
The basic idea is that all of the different tikkunim mentioned map out to history, and the basic mapping is in the hours of the days. See here. We find explained elsewhere that the Nesirah, which parallels the making of Chavah from Adam haRishon, is the immediate predecessor of Final Redemption.
  • Hour 7. 5750 - 5791.66 Chava was paired for him. The Nesirah. This does not mean that the Nesirah takes the entire "hour", but that it takes place during the "hour" in question.
To explain the concept of Nesirah, I will use a metaphor.
Imagine two magnets being held back to back. The front of one magnet is positive, and the front of the other is negative. However, the insides of the magnets are somewhat mixed: parts of the negative magnet are within the positive and vice versa, and therefore they aren't completely attracted to eachother. They are therefore held together by an outside force. During the count to 999, these out of place parts are set free, but are not yet able to move to the correct magnet.
The negative side is held in place, attached to the positive, kept there by a higher power. After all of the out-of-place parts are set free, that higher source begins to retract its hold. When that removal is completed, the inherently negative magnet is left in utter darkness. Outside darkness is strengthened. Afterwards, the higher light indirectly causes light to shine on the positive side. During this time, and afterwards, the negative side receives all the negativity from the positive side, and vice versa, and they come to face each other face to face, as the attraction of the front sides is stronger than that of the back sides.
The negative magnet here is a metaphor for the Shechinah. Since the Shechinah is still in Galut, this darkness that comes upon the Shechinah is to manifest in darkness that will plague Am Yisrael in the lands of Galut. See Rashi to Deuteronomy 30:3, and Talmud Bavli Rosh Hashanah 31a. This darkness will reach its peak in the first half of 5772, as is hinted at by the words of the Ariza"l in Sha'ar Maamrei Rashbi on Parshat VaEra. The beginning of the new light that will come down to the positive side, Z"A, will be during Yovel, in 5776.
The point of the Nesirah is the permanent coupling which follows. This time begins upon the return of the Shechinah to Tzion, at the time of Ateret haYesod, which is when the Nesirah is to complete.
The Nesirah is a necessary pain that brings the Final Redemption, if we are not worthy by our own actions to cause these tikkunim. The Nesirah will happen, it is in the very DNA of time. The question is only whether or not Am Yisrael will be pushed out of Exile, or if we will make the choice ourselves ahead of this period, thereby choosing to make a Tikkun for the Sin of the Spies.

Thursday, July 2, 2009

Nesirah, Gadlut Bet, Ateret HaYesod

There is an amazing convergance of tikkunim that occur during the 7th Hour. The Back to Back status, mentioned in the last post, is when both sides are lacking completion. Both sides need to become a full partzuf of 10 sefirot. Z"A lacks only the Mochin (the first 3 sefirot), whereas Nukva (the Shechinah) lacks all sefirot but Keter.

The tikkun of Z"A comes via Yovel, but the addition of the Mochin is complete only in 5783, with the end of the Nesirah from that side. This is Gadlut Bet.
When the status of Face to Face is reached, Z"A provides the tikkun of the Nukva. The tikkun is to add the other 9 sefirot via the Sefirah of Yesod, namely Ateret HaYesod.
Therefore, when the status of Face to Face is reached, the tikkun of the Shechinah begins immediately.
The tikkun of Z"A manifests itself in a greater spiritual potential in Am Yisrael. The tikkun of the Shechinah is the return to Tzion.
A source from Pitchei Shearim:
פתחי שערים נתיב נוקבא דז"א פתח כ"ב
שבגלות שאין הזיווג גמור ואינו תדיר אז תיכף חוזרת אב"א וגם הטוב הנתקן בכל יום משתהא למעלה וקודם הגאולה בעת חבלי משיח, אז אתחשכת נוקבא וחוזרת נקודה אחת פב"פ כידוע תיכף אחר הנסירה. ואח"כ תתבנה פב"פ בסוד פרצוף גמור בזיוויג מתמיד

Wednesday, July 1, 2009

The Approaching Darkness

The prior two posts refer to an important kabbalistic process that culminates in the Geulah called the Nesirah.

Imagine two magnets being held back to back. The front of one magnet is positive, and the front of the other is negative. However, the insides of the magnets are somewhat mixed: parts of the negative magnet are within the positive and vice versa, and therefore they aren't completely attracted to eachother. They are therefore held together by an outside force. During the count to 999, these out of place parts are set free, but are not yet able to move to the correct magnet.
The negative side is held in place, attached to the positive, kept there by a higher power. After all of the out-of-place parts are set free, that higher source begins to retract its hold. When that removal is completed, the inherently negative magnet is left in darkness. Outside darkness is strengthened. Afterwards, the higher light indirectly causes light to shine on the positive side. During this time, and afterwards, the negative side receives all the negativity from the positive side, and vice versa, and they come to face each other face to face, as the attraction of the front sides is stronger than the back sides.
The positive magnet symbolizes Z"A, and the negative, the Shechinah. When the Shechinah loses its light from Chochmah, the Shechinah is in darkness, and the Sitra Achra is strengthened. Since at this time, the Shechinah is still in Galut, this is a dangerous time for Am Yisrael outside the Land of Israel, in about 3 and a half years. The light will shine down on Z"A from the side of Binah in Yovel, about 3 years later. The darkness overtakes the Shechinah in the first half of 5772, and the two sides are brought face to face in 5783, two times hinted at by the Ariza"l.
The timing of this is hinted at in a general way by the GR"A: He writes in his commentary to Sifra diTzniuta that all these developments in the upper world are hints at events throughout the course of history, and the Nesirah is in the 6th day. According to the methodology that the millennium needs to be divided in to 24 hours (the method used in Kol haTor), we are currently in the 7th hour, in which (according to most opinions) Chava is separated from Adam haRishon, the Nesirah from chapter 2 of Breishit.
This steady removal of the light of Chochmah corresponds to the darkness following the Pekidah, as taught by the Ramchal in Ma'amar haGeulah, and explains why it seems that the Six Day War seems to have been the height of Israeli history, and most everything else has been downhill afterwards. Further, it is a fulfillment of the verse in Yirmiyahu "and it is a time of trouble for Yaakov, and from it, he will be saved". For as a necessary transition to the Zechirah when we are not worthy, the darkness must come. As the darkness approaches the lands of exile, I pray that my brethren will choose to sit in the light of the palace of Hashem.