Mocha Stima'ah & Pulchan Of The Firstborn

I've learned a new thing today. There are two "kinds" of Temple service. One is called avodah, עבודה (which I already knew). The other is called pulchan, פולחן.

Avodah is from the shoresh¹ עבד and implies work subject to another's will. Pulchan, on the other hand, from the shoresh¹ פלח, implies separating and dividing.

It doesn't take a rocket scientist to see the significance.

Avodah is the service one renders where one's will is yet to be rectified and brought into full alignment with the Divine Will. Consequently, avodah is the service done by one whose consciousness is primarily centered upon rectifying the middot.

Pulchan is the service one renders when one's will is fully aligned with the Divine Will. At this level, where consciousness is centered within the mochin (capable of insight, differentiation and rationality) and integrated into the Divine Will, one can truly be said to have free-will (bechirah chofshit). At this "point of Will" (mocha stima'ah), one can make true free-will choices between alternative realities. This is not true for someone centrally operating within the middot, both "below" Binah (rational understanding) and where one's will may be highly influenced by powerful emotive forces.

Moreover, pulchan is service which distinguishes, separates and divides "all potential realities", bringing true free-will choices between those potential realities into certain reality. Avodah works with a reality that already exists.

Footnote:

¹ Etymological Dictionary Of Biblical Hebrew, R' Matityahu Clark

technorati tags: Torah kabbalah talmud torah judaism kehunah