Redeemable Pleasures
Adapted by Rabbi Moshe Wisnefsky from the Writings of the Ari,Sefer HaLikutim, Tazria
And G-d spoke to Moses, saying: Speak to the children
of Israel, saying "If a woman conceives and gives birth to a son, she shall be
impure for seven days; she shall be impure as she is in the days of her
menstrual period. And on the eighth day the flesh of his foreskin shall be
circumcised." (Lev. 12:1-3)
It is recommended that the Arizal's teachings
regarding impurity and defilement should be reviewed here.
Know that this [i.e., a woman's defilement for seven
days after giving birth to a son] was caused by the injection of the [snake's]
poison into Eve.
Although the text of the Bible only says that the
snake spoke to Eve, it is explained in the oral tradition that the snake
actually had intercourse with her ( Rashi, Shabbat 146a).The snake
personified "evil", i.e., selfishness and self-centered ego, the antithesis of
G-d-consciousness.
Of course, every individual has a unique divine soul,
which is meant to express itself as his/her distinctive "divine personality"
with its own unique contribution to the world's understanding of G-d's presence
in the world. This may express itself in many ways, from innovative
understandings of the Torah, to artistic creativity, to acts of kindness, to
inspiring others to lead holy lives, and so on. This is the person's unique,
divine "ego". Thus, ego per se is not necessarily a bad thing.  | | " This divine ego is too often hidden by the alter-ego of the animal soul..." | | |
The problem is that this divine ego is too often
hidden by the alter-ego of the animal soul. This alter ego begins as the
consciousness-of-self that a person must have in order to ensure that he will
look out for his own physical needs, but quickly assumes complete control of the
person's thoughts, making him selfish and self-oriented. In other words, if a
child is not given proper spiritual education (a.k.a. Torah), which trains him
to give precedence to his divine soul, his animal soul will take over by
default. This is so because the animal ego is given initial control of the mind
- for an infant first needs to learn how to take care of itself.
This inflated consciousness of self (i.e., inflated
beyond the basic consciousness-of-self required for us to function physically)
is defined as "evil", inasmuch as it usurps the role intended for the divine
soul. | | " Inflated consciousness of self...seeks to divert the individual's attention from divine matters..." | | |
It seeks to divert the individual's attention from
divine matters - sometimes with material indulgence, sometimes with substitute
forms of spirituality - in order to aggrandize his concern with and focus on
himself. This subterfuge can express itself in very refined ways also, such as
abstract intellectual or artistic pursuits. In most people, their conscious mind
is a blend of mostly animal ego and some deep desires of the divine soul seeking
to surface. The more one spiritualizes his life and - through learning Torah and
doing mitzvot - gives his divine self means for expression, the more his
creativity will express true divinity and be able to identify and focus on the
divine element in other people's creative output.
The animal/subjective/selfish perspective on life was
introduced to humanity by the snake, its primordial personification. By sexually
injecting its psychological poison into Eve, the snake robbed Adam and Eve of
their ability to selflessly see reality.
This is why Eve menstruated at that moment, giving
birth to Cain, who shed blood, and Abel, whose blood was shed. This is the
origin of woman's menstrual blood, as it is written, "When a woman gives seed
and gives birth to a boy, she shall be impure seven days; [as in the days of
her menstrual period shall she be impure]" (Lev. 12:2.)
The fact that the Torah compares impurity contracted
by birth with impurity contracted by menstruation indicates that the two are
thematically connected.
Menstruation causes the woman to focus on herself
physically and emotionally. (This is why marital relations are forbidden during
menstruation; the woman is too focused on herself to focus on her husband and/or
their common soul.) | | " Menstruation is spiritually the result of the introduction of self-awareness into humanity..." | | |
The fact that this is so indicates that menstruation
is spiritually the result of the introduction of self-awareness into humanity,
which we have seen originated in the snake's injection of his
physical/metaphysical "seed" into Eve. The laws of family purity are the
divinely directed way the menstrual experience can be transformed into what is
meant to be: an educative process out of self-orientation.
Bleeding at birth also began with the primordial sin;
had Adam and Eve not sinned, childbirth would occur without bleeding (and this
will be the case in the future).
[This is also] the reason she becomes impure for seven
days when she gives birth to a boy, for when she contributes her redness first,
the offspring is male.
We are taught that "when the wife gives her seed
first, she will give birth to a male; when the husband gives his seed first, she
will give birth to a female."(Berachot 60a) The fact that the woman gave
birth to a boy means that when the child was conceived her femininity took the
leading role; her desire to express divinity in the world produced a male, since
males are obligated to fulfill more active mitzvot than are women.
With this we will also understand why, of the four
"foreskins" of man, only that of his procreative organ is circumcised. The
reason is because [these four "foreskins"] allude to the four [years that] a
tree's fruit is considered "foreskin." The foreskin of the procreative organ is
where Adam sinned, so it recalls the injection of the [snake's] poison and
sexual sin [keri], known as "evil"; [this organ is thus] compounded of
good and evil.
The Torah uses the expression "uncircumcised" of four
human organs: the male procreative organ, the ears, the heart, and the mouth.
(See Bereishit Rabba 46:5.) These organs are referred to as
"uncircumcised" or as possessing a "foreskin" when the individual does not use
them to be sensitive to others or to G-d.
When a tree is planted, we are forbidden to eat the
fruit it produces during its first three years. This prohibition is called
orla, which is the word for "foreskin." Rashi explains that this is so
because we are to treat the fruit as if it were blocked off from us by some type
of foreskin.
The fruit the tree produces during the fourth year is
to be taken to Jerusalem and eaten that year within the precincts of the holy
city (Lev. 19:23-24.) | | " The tree's fruit during its first three years belongs to the three realms of absolute evil..." | | |
In Kabbala, it is explained that the tree's fruit
during its first three years belongs to the three realms of absolute evil
("shells", kelipot) that cannot be elevated by human consumption; this is
why eating it is prohibited. The fruit of the fourth year comes from the realm
of the "translucent shell" (kelipat noga), which is the realm of reality
that includes all things that are neither intrinsically good nor intrinsically
evil but rather assume the status of good or evil depending on how they are
used. Whatever comes from this realm is neither forbidden by the Torah (for then
it would be "evil") nor expressly legislated (for then it would be a mitzva),
but simply permitted. This realm includes, for example, all kosher food
and activities permitted by the Torah but not specifically required to be done.
If we eat this food or do these acts for holy purposes, their status rises into
the realm of holiness; if we eat it or do them for selfish or unholy purposes,
their status descends into the realm of evil. The tree's fourth-year fruit is
not prohibited from consumption but must be eaten in the holy city; it must be
elevated to holiness. It therefore expresses the moral dynamic of the fourth
"shell."
The heart, ears, and mouth, must be guarded
scrupulously from any contact with evil; any "foreskin" on these organs -
experience of insensitivity, selfhood and unrectified ego - is bad and must be
rejected. With the sexual organ, however, the picture is not so black and white.
A certain amount of self-awareness and self-orientation is necessary if marital
relations are to occur. True, we are bidden to sanctify our sexuality as much as
we can, but - in contrast to the other three organs - the sanctification process
consists not of eliminating the animal awareness but refining it such that it
serves as a window to our divine soul. This is the paradox of marital relations:
each partner is to focus on giving pleasure to the other, but in order for each
partner to do this successfully, the other partner must oblige by experiencing
his/her own pleasure. Thus, each partner experiences his/her own pleasure as a
way of helping the other partner fulfill her/his objective of pleasing.
Moreover, the greater my pleasure, the greater is my partner's success, and the
greater his/her pleasure in having pleased me. It is thus ironically crucial to
the selflessness of the act that each partner experience the greatest pleasure
possible, although absolute not for the sake of experiencing their own pleasure.
Actively, I pursue my partner's pleasure; passively, I "pursue" my own. Marital
relations are thus simultaneously consummately selfless and consummately
self-fulfilling.
Obviously, sliding from experiencing pleasure for the
partner into experiencing pleasure for oneself can happen very easily.
Therefore, since some degree of self-awareness must remain in marital relations,
the danger of falling into evil here is much greater. Sexuality, in this
context, is thus the fourth "shell" that can go either way. Since its potential
for evil is so much greater than that of the other three organs, only it
requires actual physical circumcision. With the others, spiritual
"circumcision," i.e., proper attitudes engendered by holy training, suffice.
Regarding the congealing of semen when it is mixed
with the choice parts of the blood of the woman's redness and the leftovers of
this process which become the embryo's nourishment, all this is alluded to in
the verse: "Behold, I was formed in transgression, and my mother conceived me in
sin" (Psalms 51:7.) "Transgression" refers to the whiteness from the father, and
"sin" refers to the redness of the mother. Similarly, the verse "Have You not
poured me out like milk, and congealed me like cheese?" (Job 10:10) refers to
the same.
"My mother conceived me in sin" does not mean that
marital relations are sinful (G-d forbid), but simply that a certain element of
self-awareness is necessary for them to be carried out as G-d desires, as
mentioned above.
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