Saturday, February 17, 2007

Fifty Copper Hooks - A Witch's Understanding


witch's boline

ל' בשבט תשס"ז

In this week's Torah portion (Terumah), we are instructed to make "fifty hooks of copper" (קרסי נחשת חמשים) for the mishkan (Shemot 26:11).

In an earlier post, I mentioned that the witch's herb, mugwort, has copper in it. Interestingly, the word for copper in the phrase above from this week's Torah portion is נחשת - the same word used for a female enchantress. A witch.

Fifty (חמשים) pertains to Understanding, the feminine intelligence Binah.

The shoresh קרס means "curved hook" - like a witch's boline (curved utility knife) is a curved hook. Oddly, I saw this sickle-shaped hook in the wax of my shabbat candle last night as well.

Taking all this together, the phrase - קרסי נחשת חמשים - suggests that the "50 hooks of copper" in the mishkan are indeed referring to the "understanding of a witch" which "hooks" the truth.

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