Mistake of the Mixed Multitude - Part 2

This is a continuation from Part 1.

When he emerges the union of Abba and Imma, he remains impregnated in the womb of Imma for twelve months. This is alluded to (1) in the phrase "And G‑d became angry at me on your account" in that the word "became angry" can be read "made me [re-]enter the state of pregnancy", and (2) that the fact that the numerical value of the word for "at me" in this phrase is 12, and (3) that the initials of this phrase spell the word for "jubilee", which is an appellation of bina, as is known.

"And G‑d became angry at me on your account" in Hebrew is "Vayitaber YHVH [Havayah] bi le-ma'anchem", whose initial letters are vav-yud-beit-lamed.

"Jubilee", in Hebrew "yovel", is spelled yud-vav-beit-lamed.

The jubilee is the fiftieth year, and there are fifty "gates" of bina.

When Moses was born the first time, however, he required [a pregnancy of] only seven months, because [his soul] did not require so much maturation.

When Moses was born, his mother Yocheved hid him for three months, after which she put him in a basket in the river. If she hid him from the Egyptian authorities successfully for three months, why did she not continue to hide him? Our sages answer that Moses was born in the seventh month, and the Egyptian authorities came to inspect her home only nine months after her remarriage to Amram, Moses' father (See Rashi on Exodus 2:3).

The fact that he was born early means, according to our above discussion, that Moses' soul did not require the full gestation period of nine months in order to reach the level of maturity necessary for birth into this world, since it was a priori a superior soul.

Understand this, for bina includes the twelve signs of the zodiac. These are alluded to in the word bina itself, the first two letters of which [beit-yud] have the numerical value of 12. The numerical value of [the third letter of bina,] nun, is fifty, alluding to the fifty gates of bina, and the [last letter of bina,] hei, alludes to the five states of chesed or gevura that exist within bina.

Bina, the central sefira of the intellect, is the "mother" of the emotions, which emerge from its "womb". The six emotions from chesed to yesod define a three-dimensional space (two directions for each dimension), since emotion implies relationship with another, and this requires a "space" in which to occur. The three-dimensional cube is formed with 12 lines. These twelve lines are seen as the spiritual source of the twelve months of the year and their associated zodiacal signs.

The five states of chesed or gevura within bina are the precursors of the five principle sefirot of the emotions, chesed, gevura, tiferet, netzach, and hod. They are the latent propensities of intellectual analysis to produce emotional response to the subject being studied.

This the meaning of the words "[G‑d became angry with me] on your account." Moses was speaking to the Mixed Multitude [present at the assembly].

The verse thus reads mystically: "G‑d made me return to the fetal state because I decided to accept you."

Alternatively, we can say that he was speaking to the Jewish people, and the words "on your account" mean "in order to rectify you".

In this case, the verse reads: G‑d made me return to the fetal state and be reborn in order to rectify you."

Translated and adapted by Moshe-Yaakov Wisnefsky from Sefer HaLikutim; subsequently published in "Apples From the Orchard."

Reprinted with permission from Chabad of California. Copyright 2004 by Chabad of California, Inc. All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this work or portions thereof, in any form, without permission, in writing, from Chabad of California, Inc.