Monday, May 22, 2006

The Critical Mass

1 woman in 10,000: one myriad among myriads ...
a woman of sense, who has found her ...
שמע ישראל ה׳ אלהינו ה׳ אחד
ברוך שם כבוד מלכותו לעולם ועד


Kohelet 7:27 Behold, this have I found, saith Kohelet, adding one thing to another, to find out the account; 28 which yet my soul sought, but I found not; one man among a thousand have I found; but a woman among all those have I not found. 29 Behold, this only have I found, that God made man upright; חש בנות רבים.

Kohelet 7:27-29 speaks of finding one man in a thousand (pasuk 27), and points out that one woman in a thousand has not been found (pasuk 28). That may be because a woman is found in 10,000 (pasuk 29). The secret key to these 3 pesukim is contained in the malchuto blessing following kriat shema, and represents perfect unity in the world of multiplicity.

שמע ישראל ה׳ אלהינו ה׳ אחד (unity in unity: shema)
ברוך שם כבוד מלכותו לעולם ועד (unity in multiplicity: malchuto)

Note pasuk 29. The final word (רבים) of the entire perek in pasuk 29 is the plural of רב, which is a woman (רב, one myriad) among myriads (רבים) as told in the dvar Torah on reishit Bereshit 1:1 entitled Shem Chai. Interestingly, the perek is 7 (zayin ז, representing the woman of valor) and the pasuk is 29 (the final yesodic "collecting and focusing" step into 30 and the letter ל lamed, representing malchut). The combined gematria of the perek (7) and the pasuk (29) is 36; a לו nistarah. Consequently, we can see that this perek of Kohelet hides in its final pasuk a tzedeket nistarah, emerging just in time for Purim.

The final 3 words of pasuk 29 which are usually translated "but they have sought out many inventions" (חשב נות רבים), can be permutated by moving the letter beit into חש בנות רבים, which translates as "sense (חש), the daughters (בנות) of ravim (רבים)".

My primordial experience of rav (רב) is one of the ravim (רבים) of Kohelet 7:29. In physical existence, I am the daughter (malchut) of this "rav" (keter) experience. In other words, I am "one myriad" (רב) among myriads (רבים), a living example of the blessing given to daughters of the patriarchs and matriarchs.

Examining the final 3 words of pasuk 29, we see:

חש
Chash is a 2-letter root (a gate and a deeper root, according to Sefer Yetzirah), from which are derived many meanings and 3-letter roots. In addition to its traditionally understood meaning of "silence", חש can also mean "aches" and "sense" [1]. It is also the 2-letter root of both the primordial snake, the nachash (נחש), and darkness, choshech (חושך).

"Aches" refer to the birthpangs of (one's spark of) mashiach and represent healing at the soul level of chayah, in preparation for an experience of yechidah and unity with one's true predestined bashert. Yechidah is the soul level of Adam Kadmon, the common root of all souls of Yisrael, and the inner spark of mashiach of individuals.

The "sense" meaning pertains to finding a woman of sense, a true woman of valor (eshet chayil) in malchut, whose 5 dinim have been reconstructed into 5 strengths. The "sense" is silent in that it moves silently from the essence of a woman to permeate everything she perceives and does. In other words, the Divine Will from the sefirah keter permeates malchut of malchut. In a woman of sense, malchut and keter are in perfect unity, together in harmony with all the sefirot.
ברוך שם כבוד מלכותו לעולם ועד

As the 2-letter root of both the primordial snake/nachash (נחש) and darkness/choshech (חושך), in terms of a woman through whom the Divine Will flows, חש represents and is key to tikun of the snake energy and to transforming darkness to light, ithapcha chashocha lenehora. Torah teaches us that if "someone says I have toiled and I have found, s/he may be believed." It is within the power of every neshamah to find one's own inner spark of mashiach. I have found mine, through my shem chai. ב"ה

בנות Benot (daughters) pertains to kedushah, holiness. From the root בנה, meaning to build or endow, Torah tells benot Torah to build and endow with kedushah, and to separate from immorality. Tzenuit is a defining method of attaining and maintaining holiness.

בנות is a feminine plural form corresponding to malchut. This form is used to construct the the plural of בת (daughter, singular) as opposed to בתות. In the singular word for daughter, the letter nun (נ) has fallen out of ben (בן), a generic word for child [1] and the common 2-letter root for both son and daughter. This suggests that "bat" refers to a woman whose identity exists only within the context of a group of women, namely, benot. In other words, a daughter (in the form בת) has yet to unfold her uniqueness as an individual (בן) in malchut.

The letter tav (ת) of bat seals the blessing (ב) of sitre Torah [2] native to the holy feminine core; remaining sealed until the time she stumbles over her true bashert. Only a woman's true bashert has the power to remove the spiritual seal and raise the letter nun, making her a ben-Torah (a child of Torah) able to actualize her own unique identity in kedushah, separated out from among a generic group of women. Only separated out in kedushah like this can the wonders beyond [3] be unleashed. Ramchal tells us "what is too wondrous beyond you, do not seek" - now we can understand why - only one is fit to unleash the wonders beyond; becoming unleashed as one stumbles over his or her true bashert. No one can understand The Law unless one has stumbled over it [4].

Ben commonly refers to son, yet as written above, it can also refer to a child of any gender, similarly to bar (בר), another word for son/child [1]. Retention of the letter nun (נ) by benot suggests an evolution of feminine consciousness on par with masculine consciousness, where the fallen nun has been elevated back into the realm of holiness. It also suggests equal measures of feminine and masculine energies, where both a son and a daughter are known by the construct ben. Given this evolution, it is further evident that the word benot reflects rectified multiplicity (ben-ot) of malchut in paradoxical harmony with the unity of binah (benot).
שמע ישראל ה׳ אלהינו ה׳ אחד

Benot has a gematria of 458, the value of mashiach/shem chai (358) plus 100 (ק of kedushah). From this we can see that benot refers to the feminine core of the collective mashiach in kedushah, and to the individual spark of mashiach (shem chai) raised to this feminine core of kedushah. Clearly, the power to receive (malchut) and endow (binah) the Torah of Mashiach rests within the holy feminine core.

In contra-distinction to benot with a gematria of 458 (ק more than mashiach), a messenger (shliach, שליה) of mashiach has a gematria of 348, 10 (י) less than the gematria of mashiach (358). The missing value of yod (י) in shliach suggests that the shliach is yet poised (through harnassing 10 faculties of the soul) to stumble over his/her true bashert; as one's true bashert is the only one with the power to unlock and bring forth one's shem chai.

An unlocked shem chai suggests that the 10 faculties of the shliach's soul have been successfully harnassed. These 10 faculties are then multiplied by the 10 kingdoms (feminine malchutot of all the sefirot), thereby catalyzing actualization of all the soul powers in complete unity of multiplicity (ק). As G-d originally intended, Adam then becomes raised to the level of the collective mashiach in kedushah (458). No angels need apply.

רבים Rav (רב) means [1] many, myriad, vast, mighty, great, poly-, multi- rabbi, and dispute. Ravim (רבים) means myriad myriads. Rav/ravim reflects the sign (אות) of brit milah given to the children of Avraham universally (רבים), and to the children of Yisrael specifically (רב) in covenant through the additional sign of (שבת) shabbat. To reiterate, I am "one myriad" (רב) among myriads (רבים), a living example of the blessing given to daughters of the patriarchs and matriarchs.

Taking all this together, the final 3 words of Kohelet 7:29 hint to the critical mass of consciousness required to reveal the Light of Mashiach and to bring redemption to the world. חש בנות רבים. It takes 1 and 10,000, a myriad myriads.

[1] New Bantam-Megiddo Hebrew-English Dictionary
[2] Talmud Chagiga 13a
[3] Ramchal, Daas Tevunos, section 34
[4] Talmud Gitin 43a


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