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<h1 class="article-header__title js-article-title js-page-title">Spinning Strictness with Mercy</h1>
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<h2 class="article-header__subtitle">Kabbalah teaches that maturity is the ability to combine complementary qualities.</h2><span class="article-header__difficulty hide_for_print">
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<span class="article-header__byline" data-kid="10445" data-author-bio="Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai"><a title="Browse more articles by Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai" href="/search/keyword_cdo/kid/10445/jewish/Rabbi-Shimon-bar-Yochai.htm">From the teachings of Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai; translation and commentary by Shmuel-Simcha Treister, based on<i> Metok MiDevash</i></a></span>
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<p class="a_aritext">"<i>And all of the girls….</i>" <span class="blue7pt">(<a href="/library/bible_cdo/aid/9959/jewish/Chapter-31.htm#v18" data-book-id="11380-9959" title="Num. 31:18)" target="_blank">Num. 31:18)</a></span> Rabbi <span class="glossary_item" glossary_item="39626">Yehuda</span> said that from here we learn that the world is only conducted by two "colors" that come from the feminine aspect of the spiritual world. This is the "wisdom of the heart" that governs the word, as is written "<i>All of the women who were wise hearted did spin with their hands, and brought that which they had spun, both of blue, and of purple, and of scarlet, and of fine linen.</i>"<span class="blue7pt"> (<a href="/library/bible_cdo/aid/9896/jewish/Chapter-35.htm#v25" data-book-id="11380-9896" title="Ex. 35:25)" target="_blank">Ex. 35:25)</a></span></p>
<p class="a_aritext"> Now what was the purpose of bringing this particular offering to the dedication of the <span class="glossary_item" glossary_item="33326">Tabernacle</span> in the desert? The purpose was to rectify the colors of blue and purple which each include a mixture of white and red. This is also reflected in the verse "<i>She seeks wool, and flax, and works willingly with her hands</i>".<span class="blue7pt"> (<a href="/library/bible_cdo/aid/16402/jewish/Chapter-31.htm#v13" data-book-id="11380-16402" title="Proverbs 31:13)" target="_blank">Proverbs 31:13)</a></span> It is also written that the wise hearted women "spun with their hands". What is this "spinning"? Rabbi Yehuda said that they spun together strictness and mercy.</p>
<span><sl-divider size="large"></sl-divider><span class="pullquote">The color purple signifies the mixture of white and red….</span><sl-divider size="large"></sl-divider></span> 
<p>The colors referred too here are a code for the two basic <i><span class="glossary_item" glossary_item="38411">sefirot</span></i> that define the activity of the Divine in this world, namely <i><span class="glossary_item" glossary_item="39647">chesed</span></i> and <i><span class="glossary_item" glossary_item="39360">gevura</span></i> - kindness and strictness. These two <i><a href="/kabbalah/article_cdo/aid/380812/jewish/Emanations-Interact.htm" title="Emanations Interact">sefirot</a></i> are reflected in the directions right and left and by the colors white and red. The color purple signifies the mixture of white and red in the <i><span class="glossary_item" glossary_item="39331">sefira</span></i> of "<i><span class="glossary_item" glossary_item="38455">tiferet</span></i>" - "beauty" - which is in the middle of the tree of the <i>sefirot</i> between <i><a href="/kabbalah/article_cdo/aid/380796/jewish/Chesed-Gevura-Tiferet.htm" title="&lt;i>Chesed, Gevura, &amp; Tiferet&lt;/i>">chesed</a></i> and <i><a href="/kabbalah/article_cdo/aid/380796/jewish/Chesed-Gevura-Tiferet.htm" title="&lt;i>Chesed, Gevura, &amp; Tiferet&lt;/i>">gevura</a></i>. The color blue represents "<i><span class="glossary_item" glossary_item="38421">malchut</span></i>", which designates the way the world is conducted in fact.</p>
<p>[It is interesting to note that these colors are in fact used to represent these powers in society as we know it. Thus, the highest judges in the British legal system wear white wigs, representing mercy, and red gowns, appropriate for their activity of judgement. Royalty is referred to as being "blue-blooded".]</p>
<p>White is also connected to light, which is the source of spirituality, referred to in <span class="glossary_item" glossary_item="37753">Kabbala</span> as the "<span class="glossary_item" glossary_item="25915">Infinite Light</span>". In a similar vein white wool represents <i>chesed</i> and stringy flax, <i>gevura</i>. The woman of valor (<i><a href="/kabbalah/article_cdo/aid/380807/jewish/Malchut.htm" title="&lt;i>Malchut&lt;/i>">malchut</a></i>) knows how to work both these materials into fabric, the fabric of a life mixing the right balance of kindness and strictness.</p>
<p class="a_aritext">Rabbi <span class="glossary_item" glossary_item="36722">Yitzchak</span> asked Rabbi Yehuda why the Hebrew word for woman is "<i>isha</i>". He answered that it is because the word includes both strict judgment and mercy. Look at it this way: <span class="glossary_item" glossary_item="28965">Rabbi Eliezer</span> said that every woman is called "judgment", until she tastes the taste of mercy. This is as we have learnt, that the fetus receives the white from the male and the red from the woman. When a woman tastes the <i>chesed</i> of the male, then she understands that <i>chesed</i> is preferable to <i>gevura</i>.</p>
<p>In Hebrew the word "<i>ish</i>" means "man" and "<i>isha</i>" means "woman". This indicates that a girl, once she grows to become a married woman, combines the feminine aspect of <i>gevura</i> with the masculine aspect of <i>chesed</i>. The result of the union of these two aspects is a fetus that contains white (such as bones and the whites of the eyes) and red (such as blood and skin).</p>
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<p><span class="glossary_item" glossary_item="40260">Zohar</span>, <i><span class="glossary_item" glossary_item="36694">parashat</span></i> Matot Page 259b; translation and commentary by Simcha-Shmuel Treister</p>
<p>Copyright 2003 by KabbalaOnline.org. All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this work or portions thereof, in any form, unless with permission, in writing, from <a href="/kabbalah/default_cdo/jewish/KabbalaOnlineorg.htm" title="Kabbalah Online">Kabbala</a> Online.</p>
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<magen-article-credits byline="From the teachings of Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai; translation and commentary by Shmuel-Simcha Treister, based on<i> Metok MiDevash</i>">
<div class="credit_text_item">Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai, also know by the acronym "Rashbi," lived in the Holy Land in the 2nd century C.E. A disciple of Rabbi Akiva, Rashbi played a key role in the transmission of Torah, both as an important Talmudic sage and as author of the Zohar, the most fundamental work of Kabbalah. He was buried in Meron, Israel, west of Safed.</div>
<div class="credit_text_item">Shmuel-Simcha Treister is a lawyer from New Zealand who made aliya to Safed with his family in 1993 to study Zohar. He continues doing so to this day. He also works in the Ascent multi-media center.</div>
<div class="credit_text_item">The <em>Zohar</em> is a basic work of Kabbalah authored by Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai and his students (2nd century CE). English translation of annotated selections by Rabbi Moshe Miller (Morristown, N.J.: Fiftieth Gate Publications, 2000) includes a detailed introduction covering the history and basic concepts of Kabbalah. Volume 1 (36 pp.) covers the first half of the first of the original’s three volumes.</div>
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<span class="reader-name small_right_padding">Anonymous</span>
<span class="reader-location small_right_padding">iPhone, WWWW</span>
<span class="reader-source small_right_padding">via kabbalaonline.org</span>
<span class="comment-date" title="Tuesday, July 17, 2012 6:59:00 AM">July 17, 2012</span>
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<span class="subject block">
colors in Kabbalah
</span>
The &quot;white&quot; of the man and the &quot;red&quot; of the woman are connected to the initial combination of the zivug, the white material and the female red receptor material. Not withstanding the white bones / red blood etc.
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and <a href=\"/search/keyword.asp?kid=221\">Sarah</a>, husband of <a href=\"/search/keyword.asp?kid=1476\">Rebecca</a>, father of <a href=\"/search/keyword.asp?kid=1477\">Jacob</a> \
\
and <a href=\"/search/keyword.asp?kid=1478\">Esau</a>. First to be circumcised when eight days old. Readily accompanied his father to be sacrificed at the “<a href=\"/search/keyword.asp?kid=4555\">Binding of Isaac</a>.” Primarily occupied himself with <a href=\"/search/keyword.asp?kid=13361\">digging wells</a>. (b) A common Jewish name.'], article_count: [90], kid: [2202],relatedArticleUrl: '/library/article_cdo/aid/3937311/jewish/Isaac.htm',relatedArticleTitle: 'Isaac',isVideo: false,};glossary_items['g_37753']={word: 'Kabbala', text: ['(lit. “received tradition”) the body of Jewish mystical teachings, the central text of which is the Zohar'], article_count: [1351], kid: [2533],relatedArticleUrl: '/kabbalah/default_cdo/jewish/KabbalaOnlineorg.htm',relatedArticleTitle: 'Kabbalah Online',isVideo: false,};glossary_items['g_38411']={word: 'Sefirot', text: ['Divine attributes or emanations which are manifested in each of the Four Worlds, and are the source of the corresponding ten faculties (kochot) of the soul'], article_count: [415], kid: [1544],relatedArticleUrl: '/kabbalah/article_cdo/aid/380812/jewish/Emanations-Interact.htm',relatedArticleTitle: 'Emanations Interact',isVideo: false,};glossary_items['g_38421']={word: 'Malchut', text: ['sovereignty, the last of the ten Divine sefirot and their corresponding mortal middot; acts as a transitionary link to a lower world'], article_count: [95], kid: [2071],relatedArticleUrl: '/kabbalah/article_cdo/aid/380807/jewish/Malchut.htm',relatedArticleTitle: '<i>Malchut</i>',isVideo: false,};glossary_items['g_38455']={word: 'Tiferet', text: ['(lit,. “beauty”) the third of the ten Middot, or Divine attributes, and their corresponding emotional attributes in the human soul; fuses the influence of Chessed and Gevurah and reveals a light that transcends them both; often identified with Mercy'], article_count: [33], kid: [4612],relatedArticleUrl: '/kabbalah/article_cdo/aid/380796/jewish/Chesed-Gevura-Tiferet.htm',relatedArticleTitle: '<i>Chesed, Gevura, & Tiferet</i>',isVideo: false,};glossary_items['g_39331']={word: 'Sefira', text: ['(a) One of the Divine attributes or emanations which are manifested in each of the Four Worlds, and are the source of the corresponding ten faculties (kochot) of the soul; (b) (lit. \"count\") A reference to the Counting of the Omer.'], article_count: [415], kid: [1544],relatedArticleUrl: '/kabbalah/article_cdo/aid/380812/jewish/Emanations-Interact.htm',relatedArticleTitle: 'Emanations Interact',isVideo: false,};glossary_items['g_39360']={word: 'Gevura', text: ['(lit. “might”); the second of the seven Divine middot, or attributes, associated with the holding back of Divine revelation and restricting the dispersion of Divine light to lower levels of existence'], article_count: [64], kid: [3015],relatedArticleUrl: '/kabbalah/article_cdo/aid/380796/jewish/Chesed-Gevura-Tiferet.htm',relatedArticleTitle: '<i>Chesed, Gevura, & Tiferet</i>',isVideo: false,};glossary_items['g_39626']={word: 'Yehuda', text: ['(a) (1565-1466 BCE) Fourth son of <a href=\"/search/keyword.asp?kid=1477\">Jacob</a> and <a href=\"/search/keyword.asp?kid=1653\">Leah</a>, fourth of the <a href=\"/search/keyword.asp?kid=7080\">Twelve Tribes</a>. The leader of the Tribes, he encouraged his brothers to sell <a href=\"/search/keyword.asp?kid=2224\">Joseph</a> rather than leave him to die, and later stood up to Joseph when <a href=\"/search/keyword.asp?kid=8832\">Benjamin</a>’s safety was at stake. Progenitor of <a href=\"/search/keyword.asp?kid=2417\">King David</a>, all the kings of the House of David, and the <a href=\"/search/keyword.asp?kid=237\">Moshiach</a>. (b) A common Jewish name.'], article_count: [36], kid: [2223],relatedArticleUrl: '/library/article_cdo/aid/288958/jewish/The-Story-of-Judah-in-the-Bible.htm',relatedArticleTitle: 'The Story of Judah in the Bible',isVideo: false,};glossary_items['g_39647']={word: 'Chesed', text: ['(lit. \"kindness or grace\"); used to refer to the Divine attribute (sefira) which parallels the abovementioned human qualities and thus is associated with the dispersion of G-dly light and energy to lower levels of existence.'], article_count: [69], kid: [3014],relatedArticleUrl: '/kabbalah/article_cdo/aid/380796/jewish/Chesed-Gevura-Tiferet.htm',relatedArticleTitle: '<i>Chesed, Gevura, & Tiferet</i>',isVideo: false,};glossary_items['g_40260']={word: 'Zohar', text: ['the classic text of the Kabbalah; compiled by 2nd century mishnaic sage Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai'], article_count: [33], kid: [9516],relatedArticleUrl: '/kabbalah/article_cdo/aid/380596/jewish/What-Is-the-Zohar.htm',relatedArticleTitle: 'What Is the Zohar?',isVideo: false,};
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