Souls, Good and Evil: Part 2

[This article is a continuation from Part 1, which you are advised to read first (click here).]

[I also heard] from the Rabbi [i.e. the Arizal] a different way [of explaining this,] as follows:

Know that the word for "visiting" in the phrase "visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children" is written without a vav, and its numerical value is thus equal to that of the regressive iteration of the name Ab [= 72], i.e. yud-vav-dalet, yud-vav-dalet hei-yud, yud-vav-dalet hei-yud vav-yud-vav, yud-vav-dalet hei-yud vav-yud-vav hei-yud.

The Hebrew word for "visiting", "pokeid" is spelled: pei-kuf-dalet = 80 + 100 + 4 = 184.

The regressive iteration of the name Ab is:

This is also alluded to in the verse "the voice of my Beloved knocks." (Songs 5:2)

The Hebrew word for "knocks", "dofek", is spelled dalet-pei-kuf, and is thus a permutation of the word "pokeid".

If you add this name to the regressive iteration of the name Sag [= 63], i.e. yud-vav-dalet, yud-vav-dalet hei-yud, yud-vav-dalet hei-yud vav-alef-vav, yud-vav-dalet hei-yud vav-alef-vav hei yud, whose numerical value is 166, their combined numerical value will be the numerical value of the word "My Name" [= 350]. This is the mystical meaning of the verse, "I will raise him up, for he has known My Name.",(Psalms 91:14)

The regressive iteration of the name Sag is:

"My Name", in Hebrew, "shemi" is spelled: shin-mem-yud = 300 + 40 + 10 = 350.

On the other hand, if you add the regressive iteration of Ab, which equals 184, to the spelling out of the name Eh-yeh using yud's, i.e. alef-lamed-pei hei-yud yud-vav-dalet hei-yud, which equals 161, the sum will be the numerical value of the name Moses [in Hebrew, "Moshe" = 345], or with the kolel, the numerical value of the word "His Name" [in Hebrew, "shemo" = 346].

This spelling-out of the name Eh-yeh is as follows:

"Moshe" is spelled: mem-shin-hei = 40 + 300 + 5 = 345.

"Shemo" is spelled: shin-mem-vav = 300 + 40 + 6 = 346.

As Rabbi Chaim Vital's son, Rabbi Shmuel Vital, explains, the name "Moshe" and the word for "His Name" are alluded to in the verse, "What is His Name, and what is His son's Name?" (Proverbs 30:4) The word for "His Name" is mentioned explicitly. Moses is alluded to by the word "what" [in Hebrew, "mah"], for we are taught that the name "Moses" [in Hebrew, "Moshe", spelled mem-shin-hei] can be seen as an abbreviation for the first three words in the verse (Ecclesiastes 1:9) "What was is what will be" [in Hebrew, "mah she-hayah hu"], alluding to the teaching that Moses is both the first and the final redeemer. So Moses is somehow intimately connected to these two names of G‑d [Ab and Eh-yeh], alluded to by the numerical value of the word "His Name".

This connection is as follows: The numerical value of "His Name" is also that of the word for "goodwill" [in Hebrew, "ratzon", spelled reish-tzadik-vav-nun = 200 + 90 + 6 + 50 = 346], which is allied with the concept of forgiveness, both thematically and because the word "ratzon" permutes into the word for "preserving" ["notzer"] in the phrase "preserving kindness for two thousand generations" (Ex. 34:7). Kindness [chesed] is associated with the 72-Name of G‑d [Ab], since the numerical value of chesed is 72 [chet-samech-dalet = 8 + 60 + 4 = 72]. The numerical value of the spelling out of Eh-yeh with yuds [= 161] is also the numerical value of the word "alafim" ["thousands"]: alef-lamed-pei-yud-mem = 1 + 30 + 80 + 10 + 40 = 161.

The significance of combining the regressive iterations of Ab and Sag to equal "My Name" is not fully explained here, however.

Perhaps the point here is the contrast between "My Name" and "His Name", i.e. looking at G‑d's Name from His perspective vs. from our perspective. In the former perspective, G‑d initiates the return of the fallen person ["I will raise him up, for he has known My Name"], while from the latter perspective, we must initiate our repentance, albeit relying on G‑d's Thirteen Attributes of Mercy (from which the verse "preserving kindness unto two thousand generations" is taken). Chasidut might say that when the Jew identifies with his Divine Soul (such that he looks at G‑d's Name from G‑d's perspective, since he identifies with his own inner G‑dliness), his return occurs spontaneously, by itself, without conscious effort on our part. However, when we look at G‑dliness as something outside of us (His Name), we pursue our return to G‑d consciously.

[Translated and adapted by Moshe-Yaakov Wisnefsky from Shaar HaPesukim and Likutei Torah; subsequently published in "Apples From the Orchard."]