Devekut, Beyond The Merkavah

כמה דאתחיל ברכה
Sefer HaBahir, verse 3 excerpt

Traditional interpretation: "... in order that it begin with a blessing."

Liorah's interpretation: "... (to discern) how many thirst to know enabled power to develop proper abilities."

As I wrote some time ago discussing Gemara and merkavah mysticism, Arizal teaches that "the original intention was for humankind to be conscious of G-d's Unity much more directly" [1]. How do we experience G-d's Unity?

R' Yitzchak Ginsburgh teaches that "the Name Adnut (Adonai) is the essential garb of the Name Hashem (the tetragrammaton)." R' Aryeh Kaplan teaches "it is by the order of Adonai that all who approach to attach themselves to Hashem may enter and leave. There is absolutely no way that one can attach him/herself to Hashem except through Adonai." [2] How is this significant to the above excerpt of verse 3 from the Bahir?

ברכה can be permuted [3] to hakruv הכרב, "the cherub". The root כרב means a "vehicle for G-d's Presence" and "protecting angel with a child's face" [4]. In other words, a cherub (kruv). With respect to the feminine dimension of the kruv (given I am a woman) R' Yitzchak Ginsburgh writes:

The four golden garments of the High Priest--These four garments are worn together with the four white garments of the ordinary priests. They correspond to the "two" cherubim united, and the four letters (alef, dalet, nun, yud) of God's Name, Adnut. They represent a relatively female dimension.

הכרב, with a total gematria of 227 has a final digit sum of 2 ( 2 + 2 + 7 = 11 and 1 + 1 = 2). Here are the "two" cherubim united in one word, namely הכרב.

Consequently, in the word ברכה is hidden the Name, the only Name, through which one may attach to (achieve devekut with) Hashem.

Footnotes:

[1] Safed Kabbalah, Arizal, Terumah 5763

[2] R' Aryeh Kaplan, Meditation and Kabbalah (p. 129)

[3] By spelling ברכה backwards it becomes הכרב, see reverse vision.

[4] R' Matityahu Clark, Etymological Dictionary of Biblical Hebrew (p. 123)


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