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Zohar, Pinchas, Raya Mahemna 255b;
translation and commentary by Simcha Treister
The fifteenth day of the seventh month, that is
Tishrei, shall be the Feast of Booths [ Sukkot] for seven days to G-d. Do not do
any manual labor on the first day.
(Lev. 23:34) And you will rejoice before
G-d seven days.
(ibid. 23:40)
"The fifteenth day of the month" is from the
aspect of [the divine name] yud- hei.  | | " The fifteenth of the month thus represents the full influence of the sefirot of chochma and bina..." | | |
The four-letter name of G-d, Yud Hei
Vav and Hei also stands for different states of being. The yud
represents the sefira of chochma, the first hei represents
bina, the vav represents the six emotional attributes of chesed,
gevura, tiferet, netzach, hod and yesod, and
the final hei represents malchut. The secret of the fifteenth of
the month is that it is represented by yud (=10) + hei (=5),
equaling 15. The fifteenth of the month thus represents the full influence of
the sefirot of chochma and bina, the full power of
consciousness. This is reflected in the fact that the moon/bina is always
full on the 15th, meaning that it receives the full light of the sun/chochma.
Now you can understand why people with unstable emotions, or vessels to receive
the light of consciousness, go lunatic on the full moon. Their six emotive
sefirot simply can't contain the power of the light revealed on this date.
And you shall keep it [in Hebrew, "oto"]
a festival [in Hebrew, "chag"] to
G-d, seven days in the year.
(ibid. 23:41)
"Oto" is the letter vav, the middle column. "Chag"
is chesed and gevura. | | " On a festival, we are raised up to a higher level of holiness..." | | |
The word "oto" can be broken into the words "ot"-"vav",
meaning "the letter vav". The vav, as explained above, represents
the six emotional sefirot that are also known as Zeir Anpin. The
word "chag" is spelled with the first letters of chesed and
gevura, which are the two "arms" of Zeir Anpin that raise
the sefira of malchut to higher consciousness, which is the
secret. Interestingly "chag" in Hebrew sounds very much like the word
"hug" in English! The idea is that on a festival we are raised up to a higher
level of holiness. This too is reflected in English because "holiday" is another
name for "chag", or festival.
"Seven days" is from the side of "Batsheva", which is malchut.
The name "Batsheva" (or "Bathsheba") means "daughter
of seven" and implies that the sefira of malchut is the seventh
sefira below bina, which is her "mother". The word "days" is also
used in the Zohar as a code for sefirot since there are seven days in a
week and each is of equal time yet no one is like the other. The text can be
read to mean that the consciousness of chochma and bina will
descend to Zeir Anpin, who will raise malchut to a higher level
through each sefira, one at a time, each day of Sukkot, until the high
point of unity, on Hoshana Rabba.
"Reprinted with permission from KabbalaOnline.org.
Copyright 2003 by Ascent of Safed.
All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this work or portions
thereof, in any form, unless with permission, in writing, from Ascent of Safed."
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