KabbalaOnline.org Tetzaveh 5783 The Holy Zohar Insights on the Torah Reading
KabbalaOnline.org Tetzaveh 5783 The Holy Zohar Insights on the Torah Reading
Please Note: The bold text is the direct
translation of the classic text source.
The regular text is the explanation of the editor/translator
Anger is D-anger-ous
The Zohar
RebbeYehuda, analyzing the sacrificial
offerings mentioned in this week's Torah portion, compares their purity with the
consequences of anger. The connection is that a person who is angry is
sacrificing his senses to the blood of his passions. This is a form of
idol-worship.
When the Holy One Blessed be He created Man, He made him in the
form of the spiritual world. He breathed into him a holy soul made of three
parts.
The Hebrew word for "soul" is neshama; the
word for "breath" is "nesheema". This explains why
breathing exercises effect the soul. It is also the reason why anger - called
"kotzer ruach",
or "short breath" - weakens the soul by effecting the breath. Another
name for "anger" is "af " which means
"nose". Anger is expressed by the snorting of the breath in the
nostrils. Controlling anger with a long breath reasserts the soul.
As
we have learned, the soul is made up of the Nefesh, Ruach and Neshama. The most spiritual of them
is the Neshama, which also has the highest power. The [function
of the]Neshama is to learn and keep the commandments of the Holy One
Blessed be He. Now, if the holy Neshama enters into other worship [i.e.
idolatry/anger], this defiles her, and she is forced from the worship of her
Master. This is because these three powers are all one unity. The Nefesh
and the Ruach and the Neshama participate together and become as
one in a person [because they operate all the bodily activities together].
All this is like the higher secret.
Because all three levels act together, when the Neshama
is made impure, all three are affected, and the person is completely removed
from the worship of the Creator. The higher secrets are the spiritual sources
of these three. The Nefesh is from malchut, the Ruach is from the six
intermediate sefirot,
and the Neshama is from bina.
Just as these three spiritual constellations align as one in the service of G‑d, so do their
lower counterparts. The lower is the vehicle for the higher, and when it is
defiled it causes the break-up of the unity of the higher levels. This in turn
provides a foothold for the forces of separation and negativity and allows them
to flourish.
And
if a person is seen to have these three soul levels [because
he learns Torah, is engaged in worshiping his Master and does
practical mitzvot]
how will one know whether to befriend him?
How
can it be proved as to whether he has stood up for his existence to know
himself [and the workings of these three levels]? It is while he is
actually being angry that you can know a person and acquaint yourself with who
he really is. If he protects his holy soul at the time when he is angry and
doesn't uproot her from her place [in his consciousness] because he is
under the control of that foreign deity [his ego and its spiritual
idolatrous counterpart], then he is a worthy person. This is a real servant
of his Master. This is a complete man.
This sort of person does get angry, but never looses control by
saying bad things or acting uncontrollably, which are outer manifestations of
inner disunity, that effect all the spiritual levels, as explained.
And
if a person doesn't guard her [his Neshama], and he
uproots that holiness from its place and causes the Other Side to dwell there
instead, he is certainly a person who is a rebel against his Master. It is
forbidden to draw near to him or to befriend him.
Once the unity is broken, and the Other Side has control of a
person such that his passion rules his mind, his body is empty of holiness and
does not return even when his anger abates.
This
is the type of person that is described in the verse "Leave alone a person
whose breath is in his nostrils; for what is he to be considered worthy?" (Isaiah
2:22). This is because his holy soul has been made maddened and
impure because of his anger. He has changed the breathing [in
Hebrew, "nesheema"] in his nostrils.
The word for anger in the quoted verse is "apo",
which also means "nose". The word for "soul", "Neshama",
indicates breathing. The verse therefore hints that holy soul has departed;
flaring nostrils are proof of it.
The word "bemah", meaning "what is (…he to
be accounted for)" in the quoted verse, also has a double meaning. By
changing the vowels the same letters can also be pronounced "bamah",
meaning "altar".
"For
what is he to be considered worthy?" He is worthy [only] for
idol worship [since he has become an altar offering sacrifices to that
side].
One
who becomes a friend with him and one who speaks to him, is like one who
connects with actual idolatry. The reason is because actual idolatry dwells
within him and he has also uprooted the higher holiness from its place [in him
through his anger]. In its place dwells idol worship, and a foreign deity.
Instead of accepting the will of G‑d, the angry person believes that his anger will
achieve what he thinks he needs. He is placing his belief in a foreign deity
because he wants something outside the situation he is confronted with. This
very situation comes from G‑d, and yet he is furious with it! His whole worldview
is therefore "d-anger-ous" to a person who believes in Divine
Providence and does the will of G‑d.
Just
as it says about idol worship: "Do not turn to idols" (Lev.
19:4)[that it is forbidden to gaze upon idols], in the same way it
is forbidden to look at the face of an angry person.
Here the message is clear. Do not confront anger in another
person - perhaps encourage them to take a deep breath!
In the following table we set out the first three levels of the
soul, as explained above, and show where they are rooted in the higher
spiritual constellations. Also demonstrated are how they branch out in relation
to the emotions and are developed in action from the side of holiness.
|
Level of sefira |
Soul Level |
Translation |
Experience |
Activity |
|
Neshama |
breath |
Vitality of
intelligence |
Learning Torah |
|
|
six intermediate sefirot |
Ruach |
wind or spirit |
Vitality of emotion |
Prayer/worship of G‑d |
|
Nefesh |
created soul |
Physical vitality |
Practical mitzvot |
The sages teach that if a person is a Torah scholar, his anger
causes his wisdom to flee. From the above table you can see that if anger
causes the Soul Level to "flee", then the corresponding activity is
blemished. So learning flees with the Neshama, a disturbed spirit
effects worship, and practical mitzvot are broken - such as not causing
embarrassment to others or needlessly breaking articles. The angry person has
altered his face/ partzuf
physically, with flared nostrils and bloodstained eyes. This reflects the
change in the higher face/ partzuf. It is an added reason not to look
into his face/partzuf at that time!
Zohar, ParashatTetzaveh,
pg. 182b; translation and commentary by Simcha-Shmuel Treister
Copyright
2003 by KabbalaOnline.org. All rights reserved, including the right to
reproduce this work or portions thereof, in any form, unless with permission,
in writing, from Kabbala
Online.
Rabbi Shimon bar
Yochai, also know by the acronym "Rashbi," lived in the Holy Land in
the 2nd century C.E. A disciple of Rabbi Akiva, Rashbi played a key role in the
transmission of Torah, both as an important Talmudic sage and as author of the
Zohar, the most fundamental work of Kabbalah. He was buried in Meron, Israel,
west of Safed.
Shmuel-Simcha Treister
is a lawyer from New Zealand who made aliya to Safed with his family in 1993 to
study Zohar. He continues doing so to this day. He also works in the Ascent
multi-media center.
The Zohar is a basic work of
Kabbalah authored by Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai and his students (2nd century CE).
English translation of annotated selections by Rabbi Moshe Miller (Morristown,
N.J.: Fiftieth Gate Publications, 2000) includes a detailed introduction
covering the history and basic concepts of Kabbalah. Volume 1 (36 pp.) covers
the first half of the first of the original’s three volumes.
|
Click on
Subscribe to receive any of our free newsletters in your email. |
“I Love You, Ascent!”
is the new online Facebook community for Ascent’s friends and alumni.
It’s free, join us today:
bit.ly/loveascent - interact, have fun, or just hangout! See you
there :)
|
|
|
|
|
Donate here for US tax benefits Donate here for UK tax benefits Donate here for Israel tax benefits |
|
KabbalaOnline.org is a project
of Ascent of Safed Free to study all Jewish Scripture:
|
|
Comments
Post a Comment