| |
Redemption of Firstborn Son
Translation and commentary by Zachariah Goldman from
the Writings of the Ari
Make holy to me every firstborn [male] that issues
forth first [in Hebrew, "petter"] from the womb among the children of
Israel. In man and beast they are to be mine.(Ex. 13:2)
"Petter" [spelled pei=80, tet=9,
reish=200, totaling 289] has a numerical value of 288 [in gematria
terminology, R'PaCh: reish=200, pei=80, chet=8,
totaling 288] with the addition of 1 [a normal Kabbalistic hermeneutic known as
the kollel]. And they [these 288] are the judgments. For it is not
possible for the womb to open without [an emission of] blood [a physical
manifestation of the supernal gevurot], and therefore the 288 Sparks fell
[from the supernal womb so to speak], and they are the masculine judgments.
There are [in actuality] 325 [shin=300, chaf
=20, hei=5, totaling 325] masculine judgments, the 288 together with the
32 Pathways and the 5 [final letters: mem, nun, tzadi,
pei and chaf) that sweeten them. These are the original firstborn [Olam
Ha'nikudim] that went forth and died [descended]. And there [above] went out
a supernal kindness for their rectification [of the fallen masculine judgments].
Therefore, the Priests enter in their [the firstborns'] place [in the Temple
service], like there [above] entered a supernal kindness, [which functions as] a
priest in the place of the 288, which are the firstborn [above]...
[Likutei Torah, Bo]  | | " Kabbala, as a spiritual path, is about coming into harmony with the flow of the Divine Will..." | | |
In this revelation of the Arizal, we see very clearly
the profound relationship of our humanly performable commandments to the
supernal correlates that they mirror. Ultimately, Kabbala, as a spiritual path,
is about coming into harmony with the flow of the Divine Will as it courses its
way through the supernal realms and into our own earthly planet and person.
We also start to detect a pattern from this teaching,
that, in Kabbala, the firstborn is specifically not the most balanced expression
of Creation. This applies whether we look at the earlier creation of the Olam
Ha'nikudim where the Shattering of the Vessels took place or the Torah
narratives in the book of Genesis. In the latter, we clearly see a pattern of
spiritual descent with the firstborn, examples include: Cain, Ishmael, Esau and
Reuben. | " The sefirot in the Olam Ha'nikudim
...were...the firstborn..." | | |
The organization of the sefirot in the Olam
Ha'nikudim was the first instance where the sefirot were organized as
individual entities. ( Etz Chaim p.145) Thus in this sense the Arizal
considers them firstborn, specifically as individual sefirot. In this
position they were not prepared to receive the light they were to be vessels for
and thus descended. (Ibid.) By analogy, often the firstborn inherits
psychologically and spiritually more from the parents than they can integrate
and thus they fall later with G-d's help to reconstruct themselves. This is
demonstrated as the Olam Ha'nikudim received a rectification in the
emanation of the Olam Ha'berudim. (Ibid. p. 267)
Two classical examples of a firstborn son being unable
to handle what was received from the father are Ishmael and Esau. Ishmael, as
the firstborn of Abraham and Hagar (Gen. 16:4) was unable to handle the
expansive powers of Kindness he inherited from Abraham's soul. Thus, Ishmael is
associated with the negative quality of sexual promiscuity. ( Zohar I:118a,
Bereishit Rabba 53:15) This is understood as the power of chesed, an
expansive force in an unbalanced container. The light overpowers the vessels and
comes out in a distorted and fallen expression of chesed.
Esau was the firstborn of Isaac and Rebecca (Gen.
25:25) and was the recipient of a tremendous personal Power ( gevura) from
his father Isaac. Due to an unbalanced vessel however, that power was not
directed inward, in the effort of containing and transforming the self into a
pure vessel for the soul. Rather, it was distorted and became focused outward in
violence. (Gen. 25:29, see Rashi on Pesachim 54b, s.v. Bigdo and Bava
Batra 16b) | | " A new light...must come and make the rectification..." | | |
In each case, we see the same essential pattern as
that of the Olam Ha'nikudim. The light is too powerful for the vessels
and it causes a shattering, whether personal or supernal. Ultimately a new
light, sefirotic array, or son, must come and make the rectification.
It would be well for us as individuals to pay
attention to our own firstborn thoughts, goals, perceptions and choices and see
to what extent do they conform to this negative dynamic of the fallen firstborn.
We could ask ourselves in what ways have we been overwhelmed and imbalanced in
life psychologically, spiritually or intellectually and we have fallen as a
result. In such instances, we need the light of a priest, the embodiment of wise
kindness, to help us rectify our often broken souls.
Here is an example of how this light/vessel dynamic
works in our own psyche. Let us take the intellectual power of discrimination.
This is a fine trait, essential for life and spiritual practice. However, if
this quality is not appropriately channeled and tempered by other qualities of
the soul like humility and holiness one can G-d forbid fall into a judgmental
and critical perspective of others and or oneself. In this case one's vessel
cannot contain the light and discrimination becomes distorted and becomes
expressed judgmentally.
It is not coincidence that the word for character
trait in Hebrew is "midda", or "middot" in plural. "Middot"
also means a measure as in measuring weights. We need, after all, to measure the
exact amount of a quality and not let it become imbalanced on the scale of our
life.
|
