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Chapter 5, part 1: Levels of Relating to Israel
Translation and commentary by Rabbi David Slavin
To clarify this discourse we must make six distinctions:
He who has never entered Eretz Yisrael.
He who has gazed upon the land from afar yet never
physically entered.
He who has entered the land yet exited and died in
Chutz LaAretz.
He who has the merit of his bones (alone) entering the
land.
He who was born abroad yet ascended to Eretz Yisrael
and died and was buried there.
He who was born in Eretz Yisrael and never ever left
her.
Obviously these levels are in ascending order. Yet each level
represents very lofty concepts. Likewise it is obvious that this entire lowly
earth is opposite the realm of malchut. Within that realm there are three
subdivisions: the sea, the land, and Eretz Yisrael. Each one surrounds the next,
as the sea surrounds the landmass. The aspect of the sea corresponds to the
white of an eye that represents chesed. The rest of the land is likened
to the darkness of the eye that represents gevura. From there, the inner
gold of the eye and its appendages are drawn inward. That is why the mere
airspace of Chutz LaAretz contaminates. For it is split, in an aspect of
externality, into seventy sections in relation to the gentile nations.
Eretz Yisrael corresponds to the line of green that surrounds
the pupil, also called the bat ayin. This is in an aspect of tiferet,
which is also called Israel. In the middle of Eretz Yisrael is Jerusalem, which
corresponds to the pupil; she represents the Shechina. The previous three
hues that surround it are hinted to in the word "Shabbat" [spelled shin,
beit, tav]. Shin [the letter]-bat: shin has
three heads to it which represent the first three hues which surround and
precede the bat, the pupil. The three of the shin are the [three]
Patriarchs--not actually the Patriarchs themselves but rather the three existing
realities which are the adornment of the malchut. The bat refers
to the bat ayin which is a name for the actual malchut. For she is
the daughter (bat in Hebrew) and one of the ten attributes. She herself
is subdivided into ten, which correspond to mystery of the Ten Levels of
Holiness of Jerusalem.
| LEVELS |
EYE |
WORLD |
| Chesed |
Whites |
Sea |
| Gevura |
Dark line (red) surrounding color |
Landmass |
| Tiferet |
Green |
Eretz Yisrael |
| Shechina |
Pupil/Black |
Jerusalem |
In my impoverished opinion there is another hint to Jerusalem
being called the bat ayin. That is because Sama'el is the numerical value
of 130, whose numerical value equals the word ayin-eye; he receives all
his power from the palace of Livnat HaSapir [which is directly under the
heavenly portal directly over Jerusalem]. From there he divides it amongst the
ministering angels of the seventy nations, hence the letter ayin whose
value is 70. Therefore Jerusalem is the bait - house, for the seventy
angels who receive their power from there.
To return to the previous article in this series on the Land of Israel,
The Righteous Seventy-Two, click here
To continue on to the next article in this series on the Land of Israel,
Being in Israel, click here
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