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Abraham's Two Births

Open my eyes, that I may behold wondrous things in your Torah

Psalms 119:18:   

 

The Orchard - ־פרדסPaRDeS – ־הפשטPshat, ־הרמזRemez, ־הדרושDroosh and ־הסודSod

־הסודSecret → ־הדרושInterpretation → ־הרמזAllusion → ־הפשטSimplicity

AGR״A

Introduction

The first thing we must do is understand the meaning of the name Abraham (אברהם). It is well known that all the names mentioned in the Torah signify the embodiment of the Creator’s power. The Torah has a unique characteristic:  It has two parts:  The external portion (the simple story, history, commandments) and an internal one that hides within it the spiritual world, hidden from our gaze but can be seen by the great Cabbalists. The first of these was our Forefather Abraham.

The holy book, The Zohar¹ reveals to us the meaning of the name Abraham (אברהם). Come and see, the word Bereishit (בראשית) – In the beginning… - is composed of two words: “bara” (ברא) and shit (שית) – shit in Aramaic means six – who created (*אשר ברא) is a closed and guarded word. For a key can lock it but cannot open it. While key locks it with the word “bara” (ברא), the universe was not there, it did not exist, for the chaos hovered over all of it. The Creator moved the letter Aleph (א) from its third place, the last one in the word “bara” (ברא) to the second place (in the same word) and the whole universe sank into a well (באר). When this chaos was dominant, the universe was not there, it did not exist.

Who took the universe out of the well? When did that key open the gates, making it ready for use and making of history? Who held the key?

It was when Abraham came, for he holds the secret of grace (חסד). As it is written²: These are the generations of the heavens and of the earth behibaream – בהבראם (when they were created). Do not read behibaream but read BeABeRaHaM (through Abraham) – a permutation of the letters.

Therefore, what was sealed up in the word “bara” (ברא), was revealed through the combinations of bara, be’er and eber: אבר ← באר ← ברא. So, there emerged a pillar of fruitfulness, for “bara” has been transformed into AiBeR (אבר organ), which is the sacred foundation on which the world rests, since the number six (shit in Aramaic) stands for the letter Vav (ו), which the third letter of the Tetragrammaton (י-ה-ו-ה). For it is known that each letter of the Tetragrammaton (י-ה-ו-ה) has a unique purpose and has its own Gematria when we write the Tetragrammaton in different words.

Therefore, what was sealed up in the word “bara” (ברא), was revealed through the combinations of bara, be’er and eber: אבר ← באר ← ברא. So, there emerged a pillar of fruitfulness, for “bara” has been transformed into AiBeR (אבר organ), which is the sacred foundation on which the world rests, since the number six (shit in Aramaic) stands for the letter Vav (ו), which the third letter of the Tetragrammaton (י-ה-ו-ה). For it is known that each letter of the Tetragrammaton (י-ה-ו-ה) has a unique purpose and has its own Gematria when we write the Tetragrammaton in different words.

The third letter – Vav (ו) – is responsible for Generations, the formation and the development of the generations of Adam. This third letter has four wonderful names:  Magnificence, Lesser Countenance, the Holy One Blessed Be He, Sun and one additional name that stands for the Gematria of 45 (Mem + Heh) of the Tetragrammaton when they are filled with Aleph’s.³

 Each letter of the Hebrew alphabet can be written out in “full” in various ways. For example, if we take the letter Heh (ה), it can be written as He (הי), or Ha (הא), or as a combination of the two letters Heh (הה). That is to say, filling the Tetragrammaton with Aleph’s is writing out each of the letters in the Tetragrammaton in “full” using the letter Aleph (if it can be done), which gives us Yud-Ha-Vav-Ha (יוד-הא-ואו-הא). The Gematria of all these letters is 45.

When the letters aroused (the first two letters of the Tetragrammaton – Yud and He) in their desire to reach perfection, they produced the letter Mem [ם] (they built the final letter Mem). Thereby two combinations were made:  The combination of the final Mem and the Yud (מ"י) …who has created these things (Isaiah 40: 26), and the combination of the final Mem and the He (מ"ה). The word Ei’le (אלה) refers to the last two letters of the Tetragrammaton:  י-ה-ו-ה. We received the following combination:  .אלה ← אלה"י ← אלה"יםThereby is the Holy Name complete and the combination is אלקים formed in order to beget and judge the generations. The letter Vav (ו) is called Ba’al, whereas, the name of the last letter of the Tetragrammaton is – Majesty.  The two last letters Vav (ו) and Heh (ה) are also called “Sun” and "Moon”. And the Holy One Blessed Be He, took the letters Mem-Heh (מ"ה) and placed them in Eber (אב"ר) and thereby the combination of Abraham was formed.

The Gematria for Providence – Mem Yud (מ"י) – 50 (Nun – נ) = Mem – מ (40) + Yud – י (10). In accordance with the AThBaSh** rule, the tenth letter, Yud (י) can be exchanged with the thirteenth letter – Mem (מ). Moreover, since the letter Yud (10) repeats itself five times, a result of this is that Providence is full with the light of wisdom because the letter Yud is the first letter of the Tetragrammaton – י-ה-ו-ה. The number 10 can be labeled “The Wise Number” because this number arranges all the letters in the order of Tens – the tight logarithm of numbers and letters. ⁴ The word Mem-Yud (מ"י) hints at the fifty gates of Wisdom, which majesty is supposed to pass through them on its way to its rectification (תיקון). It itself is called the Fiftieth Gate, as if it wished to suddenly align itself with the first Heh (ה) of the Tetragrammaton – י-ה-ו-ה.

Both the words Elokim (אלהים) and HaTeva (הטבע) have the same numerical value – the value of 86 (פ"ו) ⁵. Elokim (אלהים) is the embodiment of all of Nature (HaTeva – הטבע) that surrounds people. This is hinted at in the verse, there is no other beside Him! ¹³

Abraham and His Brothers

 

1.     Incomprehensible Dates

So, it became clear to us that Abraham, our forefather, had characteristics of the Holy Member and that of the letter Vav (ו) from the Tetragrammaton.

In the event that we will want to look at Abraham’s human side, upon the terrific son of Adam that was in him, it is worthwhile to pay attention to the fact that the Gematria of the word Adam (אדם), who wishes to emulate (Adamah - אדמה) the Creator, is 45 (מ"ה) ⁶. The same Gematria is obtained from the Tetragrammaton (י-ה-ו-ה) when filled with Aleph’s where this filling is at the level of the Vav (ו) of the Tetragrammaton. The result is that another one can be added to all the explanations of the name Abraham (אברהם):  Abraham (אברהם) is the Man who receives wings from the Creator (Ebrah – אברה, from the word Eber - אבר) like a bird; he hovered over the world but higher than all the stars. However, the word Ebrah (אברה) does not come only from the word Eber (אבר). It also means “a bird’s wing” in ancient [Biblical] Hebrew.

Only at age 99 did Abraham attain the divine letter He (ה) to be added to his birth name. Neither at age 52, when he abandoned idolatry, nor at age 58 when he achieved the first level of comprehending the Creator, not at age 70, when he understood 12-th stage underscoring creator of the 12-th letters of the alphabet Lamed ל, this is how this event was described in the Torah: And it came to pass, that, when the sun went down, and it was dark, behold a smoking furnace, and a burning torch that passed between those pieces.⁷ When we take aside the two middle letters in Bereishit (בראשית), the first word of the Torah, we can then get the combination of Brit Esh (ברית אש) – Fiery Covenant; not when he achieved the stage of Netzah (נצח) – Victory [Eternity] at age 75, not after another 10 years had passed at age 85. From then, another 14 years passed and only then did Abraham attain the addition of the holy letter, He (ה), to his name:

 Neither shall your name any more be called Abram, but your name shall be Abraham,  And God said to Abraham, As for Sarai your wife, you shall not call her name Sarai, but Sarah shall her name be: ⁸ We will discuss the significance of the numbers we mentioned in this chapter further on.

 

2.     The Beginning of The Journey

Concerning the beginning of Abraham’s journey, the Torah does not write in detail, in an absolutely clear manner. These are the words of Genesis – Bereishit (הבראשית), ⁹ the first book of the Chumash – the Pentateuch:  Now these are the generations of Terah; Terah fathered Abram, Nahor, and Haran; and Haran fathered Lot. And Haran died before his father Terah in the land of his birth, in Ur of the Chaldean. And Abram and Nahor took wives; The name of Abram’s wife was Sarai; and the name of Nahor’ wife, Milcah, the daughter of Haran, the father of Milcah, and the father of Iscah. But Sarai was barren:   She had no child  And Terah took Abram his son, and Lot the son of Haran his grandson, and Sarai his daughter-in-law, his son Abram’s wife; and they went forth with them from Ur of the Chaldean, to go to the land of Canaan; and they came to Haran, and lived there:

The Torah relates to us that Abraham was born in the city of Ur in the land of the Kasdim (in Hebrew) or Chaldea (in Aramaic). The name Chaldean Casdim (כשדים) can be explained as Astrologers, like the gods (like Shaddai כ-שדי). Of course, Abraham was also very knowledgeable of the stars but with this, he was the first person on Earth who made known the existence of the Creator. At that time Abraham’s name was different; he was called Abram. Haran was a city in Northern Mesopotamia (Aram Naharaim). If we rearrange the letters of the word Be’Aram (בארם) we can see that Abram came from Be’Aram and saw there high and mighty people (haughty people). The word Haran comes from harah ( חרה– He was angry with…), which points to anger and frustration that our Forefather Abraham then felt.

The portion, which we read from Genesis, places many questions before us. One of these questions is,  “Did Terah marry his granddaughters off to their uncles, Abram and Nahor?”

The name Iscah (יסכה) appears only once in the Torah. It is not written in the Torah, “For he took Iscah and Milcah.” Our sages obm explained that the name Iscah (יסכה), Haran’s youngest daughter, means, “he shall see, he shall reign." The obvious conclusion from this is that Iscah none other than a nickname for Sarai, “my mistress.” However, this assertion places the most serious problem before us related to the age of the brides. The problem is that Abram was older than Sarai his wife by only ten years.

 

3.               Rabbi Levi’s Objection

Our sages obm, who gaze upon us from the eternal world, a place without time, show us (similar to our holy Torah) the pictures, which cannot be unequivocally understood. Even in our case, there is a hidden meaning to the story, which reveals Abraham’s special attributes. These attributes equate him with that letter Vav (ו) in Tetragrammaton. The Midrash Rabba (Noah 14) remarks on this:

... “Abram was a year older than Nahor… …and Nahor was a year older than Haran; [hence Abram was] two years older [than Haran]; [now deduct] the year of pregnancy with Milcah and the year of pregnancy with Iscah, and you find that Haran begot children at six years of age, yet you say that Abram could not beget a child! …and Sarai was barren, etc. Rabbi Levi said, “Wherever she had not is found, it means that eventually she did have. Sarai was barren; she had no child; eventually she did have… And the Lord remembered Sarah…”

What was Rabbi Levi’s intention? However, since it is known to be from the works of the Kabbalah and from the Talmud, since the physical world is somewhat like a copy of the spiritual world, people’s reproductive ability exists from only nine years of age. Rabbi Levi’s intent is that the number 6 (the age of six years, the numeric value of the letter Vav (ו)) points to some attribute of Abraham that is also found in the letter Vav (ו) of the Tetragrammaton. The obvious conclusion here is that Abraham would indeed have progeny in the future!

But we must ask, “For what purpose did the Creator make such a miracle? What is to be gained, what is to be learned from this for all of mankind?” The answer is simple that this miracle has prepared the second major miracle for Avraham.

Over and above, Abram said to the king Avimelech, “And yet indeed she is my sister; she is the daughter of my father, but not the daughter of my mother; and she became my wife“: ¹¹ so why should we not believe that?

In order to arrive at the correct answer, we shall use the method of the PaRDeS (פרדס) – the Orchard. First, we shall look at the Sod (סוד) – the secret, the Drash (דרש) – the Interpretation; then the Remez (רמז) – the Allusion; and only then can we see the hidden part, the Light of P’shat (פשט) – the Plain meaning.

Let us suppose that the six years are an allusion.

Take notice that the name Haran (הרן) is quite similar to the word “pregnancy” (הרה) and the last letter (the final Nun - ן) can be viewed as a suffix of the word. The result of which is that Haran (הרן) is the world’s youngest expert on pregnancies in minors!

However, if Sarai was not Haran’s daughter, it creates a new situation for us from which some seven important deductions can be derived.

Let us compare the numerical values of the words Haran (הרן) and (הרה). The numerical value of the final Nun (ן) in Haran’s (הרן) name is 50 and the numerical value of the last letter He (ה) in the word Hara (הרה) is 5.

50/5 = 10

So, we now have before us four hints:  6 years, the number 50, the number 5 and the number 10!

Below we can see the seven important deductions that we have mentioned:

1.     The name Haran (הרן) alludes not to his daughters’ pregnancies (הרה) but to Abram’s wife, Sarai's pregnancy, as we shall see below. That was because God will change their name (Abram and Sarai) in the future by adding the divine letter Heh (ה) to their name. He will also take the letter Yud of Wisdom from Sarai’s name which will cause, at Sarah’s request, for Abraham to make a great feast the same day that Isaac was weaned, so that Sarah could suckle the guests’ children.¹²

2.     What is hidden by the number 10 is that Abraham is older than Sarai by exactly 10 years. Together they create the perfect covenant, the Countenance, because the number 10 is the number of Wisdom (the Yud), a number that arranges all the numbers of the tens set. ⁴ Also, we can note that the verses where Abram and Sarai receive their new names are found at a distance of 10 verses (in ordinal numbers; In the Bible they are in verse 5 and 15). ⁸

3.     From the Foreword, it was understood that Abraham carried within him the characteristics of the Holy Member, the Lesser Countenance, which produces offspring. The obvious conclusion here is that Abraham would indeed have progeny in the future! There are three indications that his wife Sarai would also bear children:

1. The same form between Abraham and his spiritual root, the Lesser Countenance.
2. The name Haran (הרן) is quite similar to the word pregnant (הרה).
3. The number Ten, which represents the perfect covenant.

This was Rabbi Levi’s intent when he said, “Wherever she had not is found, it means that eventually she did have.

4.     The name of Haran’s youngest daughter is Iscah (יסכה). The meaning of the name Iscah (יסכה) is “he shall see,” since it is in a male voice. We see in this a hint to Abraham’s future characteristics.

5.     The number 50 comes to hint about the fifty gates of Insight, which will open up before our Forefather Abraham.

6.     The hidden principle of the numeral 6 (six years) is that after these six years, Abram will achieve the first level of mystical Wisdom (Chen – ח"ן – the Kabbalah) – a science that aims to teach mankind how to receive. However, on this we will speak about later.

7.     So we see that the names of Haran and Iscah completely melted, evaporated within Abram’s and Sarai's characteristics. Is that not a wondrous thing? It definitely is! However, we will also speak about this later.

 

Appendix A:

1.     Introduction to The Zohar, Genesis, Mossad Harav Kook, 7^th printing, pp. 6-7;       The Zohar with the Sulam commentary, Yehuda Leib Ha-Levi Ashlag, vol. A, pp. 45-48, 60-64. Genesis 2:4:

2.     Yud = (י) 10 + (ו) 6 + (ד) 4 = 20 +

 

         The letter Heh (ה) filled with an Aleph – (ה) 5 + (א) 1 = 6 +

         The letter Vav (ו) filled with an Aleph – (ו) 6 + (א) 1 + (ו) 6 =13 +

The letter Heh (ה) filled with an Aleph – (ה) 5 + (א) 1 = 6 and now totals 45 (מ"ה).

3.     The letters of the Hebrew alphabet and their numerical values

N*10⁰ = N*1 -- The variable N receives a value of 1 through 9

N*10¹ = 10*N -- The variable N receives a value of 1 through 9

N*10² = 100*N -- The variable N receives a value of 1 through 9

 

The numbers are subject to the logarithmic rule according to which

log [A * B * C*...] = log A+ log B + log C + ...

Here the numerical value of each letter can be seen as a multiplication of simple numbers:

א – 1, ב – 2, ג – 3, ה – 5, ז – 7.

 

Each number – letter can be divided by the letter Aleph with the Creator Himself is standing behind the letter.

 (log 1 = 0). They are tied to one another through their logarithmic values. For example:  Log (6 = 1*2*3 ~ ו) = 0 + log (2 ~ ב) + log (3 ~ ג)

The letter Vav (ו) holds in it the properties of the letters Beth (ב) and Gimel (ג).

4.     The Gematria of the word Elohim (אלהים) is:  א - 1 + ל – 30 + ה – 5 + י – 10 + מ – 40 = 86 – פ"ו.  The Gematria of the word HaTeva (הטבע) is:  ה – 5 + ט – 9 + ב – 2 + ע – 70 = 86 – פ"ו.

6.   The Gematria of the word Adam (אדם) is:  א - 1 + ד – 4 + מ – 40 = 45 – מ"ה

7. Genesis 15:17:

8. Genesis 17:5, 15:

9. Genesis, Noah, 11: 27-31:    

10. The Midrash Rabba (Noah, 14)  

11. Genesis 20:12:

12. Genesis 21:8;

 Introduction to The Zohar, pp. 20-21;

The Sulam, vol. A, “Introduction to Zohar", pp. 174-179; 171-176.

13. Deuteronomy 4:35:

 

Notes

*   The text in bold is quoted from the sources 

** According to the ATBaSh אתבש rule, each letter has an exchangeable one. The numbers representing these letters remain the same. For a letter – from the beginning. For its replacement – from the end. For example, the letter Aleph (א) – the first letter (from he beginning) while the letter Tav (ת) is from the end. According to the rule, you can exchange these two letters.

 

4.     Abraham was saved from the fiery furnace, Haran’s death

According to Kabbalah doctrine, after the death of a person’s body, the soul is reincarnated into another body. The person’s soul must continue to be reincarnated so long as it has not completed its rectification nor has it attained its full isomorphic with the Creator who loves all his creatures. These reincarnations are said to continue until the soul attains a state of he was goodly!

There is not even a shadow of a doubt that when the souls of Abraham and his two brothers, Nahor and Haran where present in our world in their bodies, Haran left the world and was reincarnated much earlier than his brothers. For a very long time, Abraham did not have any children, which caused our Forefather Abraham much suffering. This, Abraham’s ordeal, this test of his faith, carried on for 85 years beginning on that day, when in the year 2000 AM, at the age of 52 he decided to forsake idolatry and ended at the binding of his beloved son Isaac, when the Lord’s angel held back his hand.¹

As it is written in the Torah: And Haran died before his father Terah in the land of his birth, in Ur of the Chaldeans.²

What is the mystical meaning behind these words? What enigma is hiding behind the death of Abraham’s younger brother?

We have already seen that the Torah has a unique property. It has an external part – the story and the commandments, and an internal one that describes that which is in the spiritual world, hidden from our eyes.

We shall again employ the PaRDeS (the Orchard) rule:  First, we shall look at the Sod (סוד) – the Secret (Raz רז has the same Gematria as Light – אור [the translator]); afterwards, the Drash (דרש) – the Interpretation; the, the Remez (רמז) – the Allusion; and only then can is the hidden part revealed as plain as Light - the P’shat (פשט).

The Midrash Rabba on the portion of Noah relates to us how Haran died. On this relates “Rabbi Hiya the son of Rav Ada from Jaffa.” The story, called, “Abraham is saved from the fiery furnace; the death of Haran,” is not an easy story as the one in the chapter on “Abraham and his brothers,” which relates about Haran who fathered his first daughter at the age of six years and the second one a year later.

The authors of the Midrash describe the visions they saw with the Holy Spirit in plain language, sometimes in Aramaic and sometimes in Hebrew.⁵ At present, Man does not possess a more efficient organ to perceive actuality than the human eye. Therefore, the maximal information can be transmitted with letters and numbers.

I will divide Rabbi Hiya’s explanation into four parts, similar to the four acts of an esoteric play. The “play” is a real drama concerning the beginning of the collapse of the belief in idols and idolatry. We, on our part, shall attempt to find these hidden allusions in the texts.

Act I

Abram and the Customer

Terah was an idol worshipper (he manufactured idols). Once, when he left his house, he placed Abraham to sell idols in his stead. A man came along who wanted to buy. Abraham would ask him his age,  “How old are you?” And he would answer, “Fifty” or Sixty.” He would say to him, “Woe to such a man who is fifty years old and would worship a day-old object!” At this, he became ashamed and departed.

The text is constructed in such a manner that one cannot easily discern who is asking and who is answering.

It is written in the article “On the matter of the two angels”⁴ by Rabbi Baruch Ashlag obm, (the words that he listened from his father, the author of the Sulam commentary on the Zohar):  The Matter of the two ministering angels accompany man on the eve of the Sabbath from the synagogue to his home, one a good angel and one an evil one. (Shabbat 119b) The good angel is called Right for by it a person draws closer to the worship of God. That is called the Right that brings closer. The evil angel is the aspect of the left that distances. That is, it brings a person to have strange [impure] thoughts, both in his head and in his heart. When a person overcomes the evil and draws nearer to God; that is, that each time he overcomes evil, he attaches himself to God. So, it is that through the two of them he comes closer to God. That is to say, both of them accomplished a single task, causing him to become attached to God.”

Are there hidden allusions in this paragraph to identify the buyer? First, we must check if under the generic “the Buyer,” there is a ministering angel that brings closer and is hiding. If the answer is “yes”, then we clearly understand who is questioning and who is answering. We will also gain an answer to the question, “Was Abraham over fifty years of age at the time? How can we check this? Let us look at the Gematria of the word “angel” (מלאך). The letter Mem (מ) – 40, + Lamed (ל) – 30, + Aleph (א) – 1, + Kaph (כ) – 20 = 91; the Gematria for the word angel (מלאך) is 91. Let us now compare this Gematria to that of the words “the buyer came” (יזבן והוה). Yud (י) – 10, + Zayin (ז) – 7, + Bet (ב) - 2, +Nun (נ) – 50 + 2 Vav' (ו) - 2*6, + two Heh' (ה) - 2*5 = 91 - The two Gematria’ are equal!

That means that in the aforementioned paragraph there really is an allusion to the buyer’s identity; that a disguised angel came to Abraham. What is an angel? An angel comprises a spiritual force that influences the person’s soul and the cognizance in a certain manner. The spiritual force that came to Abraham was one that brings closer.

So, we have now revealed the following indications concerning:

1.     Abraham’s internal spiritual situation opposite the angel that shamed the first forefather for bowing to idols. Afterwards, Abraham took the angel’s role upon him and under the threat of death began to shame the customers that came to his father’s store, for bowing to idols.

2.      Is this the hidden answer for the double quandary wherein we did not know who is asking and who is being asked? At that time, Abraham’s age was between fifty and sixty years.

 

Act II

A time to act

On another occasion, a woman came with a plateful of flour, and requested of him, “Take this and offer it to them.” So he took a stick, broke them, and put the stick in the hand of the largest one. When his father returned, he said to him, “Who did all this?” He answered him, “I cannot conceal it from you. A woman came with a plateful of fine flour and said to me, ‘Offer it to them,’ and I offered it. When I offered it, one god said, and another said, ‘No, I will eat first.’ Then the biggest of them rose up and smashed all the others.” His father said to Abram, “Why are you making sport of me? What do they know? (That is to say, ‘what, can they do what you said?’)”. Abraham replied to him, “If it weren’t so, Should not your ears listen to what your mouth is saying?” So, Terah took him (Abram) and gave him over to Nimrod (to be judged).

This passage from Midrash Rabba, brings us to think that this woman who came to Abraham, similar to the customer who came to him before, could also be an angel but this time a left-sided angel that comes ”to distance.”

We simply must check this out! Let us look at what is written about the woman in the Aramaic source text. “On another occasion, a woman came” (חד זמן אתא חד איתתא) – now let us calculate the Gematria of the group of underlined Aramaic words:

(Aleph -1, + Tav – 400, + Aleph – 1) +

(Het – 8, + Daleth – 4) +

(Aleph -1, + Yud – 10, + Tav – 400, + Aleph -1) = 402 + 12 + 812 = 1226.

This is the Gematria of אתא חד איתתא  - “a woman came.”

Let us now compare the Gematria from this group of words, which contain within them the wordמרחקת  – “distances.” And they are:

1. "קו שמאל מרחקת":

(Kuph – 100, + Vav – 6) +

(Shin – 300, + Mem – 40, + Aleph -1, + Lamed – 30) +

(Mem – 40, + Resh – 200, + Het – 8, + Kuph – 100, Tav – 400) = 106 + 371 + 748 = 1225

2. "באה בחינת מרחקת:  (Bet – 2, + Aleph -1, Heh -5) +

(Bet – 2, + Het – 8, Yud – 10, + Nun – 50, + Tav – 400) +

(Mem – 40, + Resh – 200, + Het – 8, + Kuph – 100, + Tav – 400) = 8 + 470 + 748 = 1226

And so, since the group "אתא חד איתתא" gives a Gematria of 1226, which the same Gematria as the group "קו שמאל מרחקת", (1225 and with an inclusive, 1226) and the group באה בחינת מרחקת"” (exactly 1226), we now have here a clear and double proof that the woman who came to Abraham carried all the traits of the left-sided angel. This is a perfect congruency.

From this, we can conclude that the good and evil angels did good work in correcting our Forefather Abraham. Also, we can see with what great artfulness our Sages have transmitted these hidden allusions.

Act III

The debate between Abraham and Nimrod

Nimrod said to Abram, “Bow to the fire.” Abraham replied to Nimrod, “Let us bow to the water that quenches fire.” Nimrod said to Abram, “Bow to the water!” Abraham replied, “If so, let us bow to the cloud that carries the water.” Nimrod said to Abram, “Bow to the cloud!” Abraham replied, “If so, let us bow to the wind that disperses the clouds.” Nimrod said to Abram, “Bow to the wind!” Abram replied, “So bow to Man who stands up to the Wind.” The word Wind – רוח has the meaning of both the physical and metaphysical. Nimrod said to Abram, “You are just bandying words! We will worship nothing but the fire. Behold, I will cast you into it, and let your God whom you adore come and save you from it.” So did Rabbi Hiyya describe our Forefather Abraham's process of purification from the filth of idolatry?

Rabbi Shimon began to expound and said, “…there is fire that devours fire; that is, it devours it and destroys it. For there is a fire that is stronger than common fire…”⁵

The fire causes “the fire that is in the heart,” that is the will of a person to cleave to the Creator’s Light. Abraham was the first one to meet with the fire “that does not burn and does not devour.”⁵ Then Moses, our teacher, went up Mount Sinai to receive the tablets of the Covenant and touched it, this fire. And when Aaron and all the people of Israel saw Moses, behold, the skin of his face shone; and they were afraid to come closer to him.⁶

Ben Azzai, the son-in-law of the righteous sage, Rabbi Akiva, know how to draw that fire. He clung so much to this fire that he separated from his wife and after a time departed from life itself.

In the Midrash Rabba on the Song of Songs⁷ it says:

Once as Ben ‘Azzai sat and expounded, the fire played round him.  They went and told R. Akiba, saying, 'Sir, as Benn ‘Azzai sits and expounds, the fire is flashing round him.’  He went to him and said to him, “I hear that as you were expounding the fire flashed round you.”  He replied: “That is so.” He said to him: “Were you perhaps treating of the secrets of the Divine Chariot?” ‘No,’ he replied. ‘I was only linking up the words of the Torah with one another and then with the words of the prophets, and the prophets with the Writings, and the words rejoiced as when they were delivered from Sinai, and they were sweet as at their original utterance. And were they not originally delivered from Sinai in fire, as it says, and the mountain burned with fire?

Act IV

The bitter end to Haran’s body

Now Haran was standing there undecided. “If Abram is victorious, [thought he], I will say that I am of Abram's belief, while if Nimrod is victorious I will say that I am on Nimrod's side.”  When Abram descended into the fiery furnace and was saved, he [Nimrod] asked Haran, “Of whose belief are you?” He replied, “Of Abram's.” Thereupon he seized and cast him into the fire; his inwards were scorched and he died in his father's presence. Hence it is written, and Haran died in the presence of his father Terah.

Abraham said to Haran, "תברח איתי!" Flight from Nimrod!

But apparently, Haran was much influenced by the revelation that his elder brother had. He was there… But he gave Abram his trait (that of the final Nun [ן]) and remained as though he were a hill – har (הר). The word hirher (הרהר) – ponder, is constructed from har (הר). He pondered what he should do and in the end, he proclaimed that he would go in Abraham’s path. Thereupon they seized and cast him into the fire; his inwards were scorched and he died in his father's presence.

 

Act V

The Flight

And it was after these events that Terah took Abram his son, and Lot the son of Haran הרן his grandson, and Sarai his daughter-in-law, his son Abram’s wife; and they went forth with them from Ur of the Chaldean, to go to the land of Canaan; and they came to Haranחרן , and lived there.

I wish to add a few words to this.

The rest of the story concerning Iscah is not at all important to us since she accomplished her task.

Abraham attempted to instill the belief in the Creator in his nephew Lot’s heart, who was now an orphan but without success. The meaning of the name Lot derives from the Aramaic word lut, which means to curse. Only Abraham’s son Isaac achieved complete faith. But Haran’s soul was reincarnated in the fetus in the Matriarch Sarah’s womb, in her son Isaac.

The Gematria of the name Haran (הרן): Heh (ה) -5, + Resh (ר) – 200, + Nun (ן) – 50 = 225

The Gematria of the name Isaac (יצחק): Yud (י) -10, + Zadi (צ) – 90, + Het (ח) -8, + Kuf (ק) - 100 = 208

Isaac and the ram are part of the story of Isaac’s Binding.¹

The Gematria of the word ayal (איל) is:  Aleph (א) -1, + Yud (י) – 10 + Lamed (ל) -30 = 41

The Gematria of Isaac’s Ram –יצחק ואיל : 208 + 41 + 6 (ו) = 255!

The conclusion is that one can understand from all the above calculations that Haran’s soul had been truly reincarnated in Isaac’s body.

 

Appendix B

1.     Genesis, Vayeira, 22:1-19:

2.     Genesis, Noah, 11:28:

3.     Midrash Rabba, Noah, 13

4.     Shama’ti, p. 132, article 107

5.     The Zohar, Monad Harav Kook, 7^th printing, pp. 100-101; Sulam, vol. 2, p. 153, par. 255. – “The flame that rises”.  

6.     Exodus, Ki Tisa, 34:30:

7.     Song of Songs Rabba, part 1, par. 52.

 

5. Abraham’s First Birth

As you well know, the Hebrew calendar began 5766 years ago. The calendar’s landmarks are the dates of the live of our saintly ones obm, beginning with Adam until our saintly forefathers. The “common” calendar began 2006 years ago and what happened until that point in time is called “Before the Common Era – BCE.

Over time, beginning with ancient times until today, two special dates are tied to the birth of Abraham and the birth of the wisdom of the Kabbalah.

Noah the righteous, known to us from the Torah, who survived the Flood, died in the year 2006 according to the Jewish calculations of the Hebrew calendar. Abraham was born in the year 1948. From then until Noah’s there remained 58 years.

The number 58 in the Jewish numbering system appears as “נ"ח” (noah – נח, meaning quiet, rest) these are the quiet and peace that Noah will bring to the world. What we see here is not just a simple coincidence but also a hint to a closely guarded secret.

The table that see below, contains the dates for the lives of our forefathers according to the data given to us by the Torah.¹

Table 1

 

As long as a person lives, we continuously add to his years. However, Noah’s last 58 years are counted in relation to Abraham’s birth. Therefore, these years continuously diminish. We have here a type of countdown that is opposite to the time-line. If we are already speaking about a reversed situation, let us reverse the letters of Noah’s name – נח. Since the Chen – ח"נ is a well-known short form, the initials of the words חכמה נסתרת, – the esoteric Wisdom – that is, the Wisdom of the Kabbalah. This also takes into account that the first Cabbalist was our Forefather Abraham; born in 1948, 58 (נ"ח) years before Noah (נח) passed away.

Our world, at the age of 2006 (by the common calendar) our world has left a status of Noah – נח and entered into one of development. In the year 1754 BCE, Abraham was 58 years old.

As such, it does not seem amazing that behind all the Biblical numbers and dates are hidden enormous secrets. The time will come and all the Torah’s secrets will be revealed. That is the thing that strengthens our faith in the very existence of the Creator.

Pay attention to two “coincidences,” to two “Jubilees”:

1. Abraham’s birth – in the year 1948 by the Hebrew calendar, while the State of Israel was also established in the year 1948 but according to the common calendar.
2. The year the Wisdom of the Kabbalah was born was in the year 2006 according to the Hebrew calendar and is the present year according to the common one.

From this, one can conclude that since the State of Israel was established in 1948, and a result of that is that in the year 2006 there began the vigorous distribution of the Wisdom of the Kabbalah throughout the world.

The Creator reveals a new miracle, secreted in the Torah!

Preparations for the Birth of the Kabbalah

It is worthwhile to pay attention to the following fact: At the end of the first 2000 years, there began six special ones. These six years were a type of gate, the beginning of the second 2000 years that ends with birth of the first Cabbalist; our Forefather Abraham. These are the six years, which Rabbi Levi alluded to. In other words, the time came for the Wisdom of the Kabbalah to be born and the revelation of the Creator’s power to all of mankind, especially so in light of the fact that the number six (6) has a special quality 6 = 3 + 3 = 2*3 . That is the Creator, who builds a system of three lines which whose assistance, the assistance of this wonderful Sulam – Ladder – all of mankind can return to the King of the universe.

Below we can see a simplified diagram of the Creation.

 

 

We see that the Creator prepared every thing for the Wisdom of the Kabbalah to be revealed towards the third millennia by creating the conditions for the birth of the world’s first Cabbalist – our Forefather Abraham.

The number 6 is the one that stands for the letter Vav (ו) in His, the Creator’s most important name:  י-ה-ו-ה. The role of the Vav in the Tetragrammaton, is to be a channel for the promulgation of the Creator’s Light throughout the world. That is the reason that God has additional names:  “The Holy One Blessed Be He,” the “Lesser countenance,” etc. Joining, allying the numbers 10 and 6 (6*10 = 60), in other words, a covenant between Wisdom’s letter (Yud - י) to the “Lesser Countenance” (the letter Vav – ו) begets the letter Samekh (ס) with a Gematria of 60.

To the extent that a person builds about him the screen – מסך – Masach, of a Cabbalist, then the Creator will always be of assistance to him. Samekh and Masach work through a helper (support) to regulate the amount of light (fulfillment, pleasure) that each of us receive from the Creator. This derives from the fact that the numerical value of Samekh and Masach are the same for both, since they are constructed from the same letters.

The Gematria of Samekh (סמך) is:] ס – 60, + מ – 40, + כ – 20 = 120. That is to say, that on one side there is support (Semech - סֶמֶך). But there is a dark side (Satan – סטן or שטן). The word Satan – סטן has a Gematria of 119 (which when filled equals to 120). This small difference comes to tell us something important:  The Evil Inclination is slightly weaker than the Good Inclination, so someday Man will succeed in conquering his impulses forever.

It is noteworthy that from our clarification is derived that י-ה-ו-ה (with a Gematria of 26) gives support to nature – הטבע (with a Gematria of 86) because support is Semech – סֶמֶך (ס = 60) and 26 + 60 = 86. Furthermore, he acts in nature to fructify and in judgment (Elohim – אלהים is the principle of Judgment and has a Gematria of 86).

6.  Abraham’s Second Birth

The Wisdom of the Kabbalah divides the time that is allotted for the existence of the universe into three Epochs. Each one consists of 2000 years.

The First Epoch was a sort of introduction to the other ones that came after it. The most important event that occurred in that period was the Flood that came about because …for all flesh had corrupted its way upon the earth. After 200 years, there was the separation into languages – the Tower of Babylon. At the end of the Epoch, Abraham was born.

The Second Epoch – is the time for the giving of the Torah. Our Forefather Abraham builds a spiritual Cabbalistic group based on mutual friendship between one another and an aspiration to liken oneself to the Creator. Isaac’s son, Jacob becomes worthy to receive the name Israel. It can be read “Yashar El” (ישר-אל) – the direct path to God - for you have contended with God and with men, and have prevailed.² After 400 years, the Cabbalistic group established by our Forefather Abraham becomes the Chosen People, the nation of Israel (…it is a people that dwell alone, and shall not be reckoned among the nations.).³ The beginning of the Exile:  The Egyptian Exile and the Babylonian Exile. The first exile lasted years. The People of Israel fell into the Exile because it did succeed in maintaining the proper level of spiritual service, the worship of God.

The Third Epoch – The second Fall of the People of Israel, an Exile that lasted for almost 2000 years, a return to the Promised Land, a return to the Creator’s Light. This will be the people who will bring the world back to the Creator.

Abraham’s Second Birth I use this concept in relation to the period of Abraham’s life that began at age 52 in the year 2000, when he forsook idolatry. This was the beginning of a very difficult path. At that time, Abraham was in a condition of “double concealment” for he could not justify the Creator’s acts, which apparently created this cruel world. Afterwards, Abraham rose to a level of regular Hiding of the Face and continued his search for the Light when in 2006 (the year that Noah passed away), at the age of 58, he attained the first level of understanding the Wisdom of the Kabbalah.

There is next important date when Abraham was 70 years old; it is known from the count on dates, that the exodus of Jews from Egypt has taken place 2448 y, and it was in 400 years after Isaac’s birth, the son of Abraham, in 2048 y, and in Torah is written: “Now the time that the children of Israel dwelt in Egypt, was four hundred and thirty years:” (Exodus 12, 40). It corresponds to the 70 years' age of Abraham. In five years after that, he will receive the order of the Creator to leave father's family to go in the land of Canaan, does it mean the readout of stay in Egypt began from an arrival of family in the city of Haran in 2018 y, in fact the name Egypt מִצְרָיִם contains a hint of constraint מִצַר? In the year Avraham reached the age 70 years, and sages said, that at that time the Creator concluded with him “The Covenant of Fire” ברית אש between the Pieces. “And it came to pass, that, when the sun went down, and there was thick darkness, behold a smoking furnace, and a flaming torch that passed between these pieces”: ⁴

The hidden wisdom began to be revealed to Avraham through the letter Aleph at the age of 58 in the year 2006, at which time the entrance to the system of upper worlds was revealed to him in the form of the ascending ladder of 9 steps, in which each step contained within itself 10 inner steps: 9 (Teth - ט) * 10 (Yud - י) = 90 (Tsadi - צ), if so, 12 more years passed by to the year 2018, and he had already reached a level in the hidden wisdom to that of the letter Lamed ל, which is the twelfth letter of the Aleph-Bet and is called the level of Lamed. The Hebrew letter Lamed is found in the word צל – Tzel צל (shadow), as Avraham was in the Creator's shadow, to be in the Creator's shadow  - is a warm support which manifests itself by the letter ס named a support סמך – Semech (with a numerical value (gematria) of 120), the gematria of צל  - Tzel equals:

90 (Tsadi - צ) + 30 (Lamed - ל) = 120.

After that the Upper Waters - מים have opened before him in the form of the acronym צלם (image) as is written in the Torah: And God created man in His own image, in the image of God created He him: - (Bereishit 1:27)

Also Avraham really was in God's image. 

Why did Abraham tarry in Haran and did not come straight to the Land of Israel? Why was there a delay of 17 years? The answer lies that Abraham understood of the need the 27 (3*9*1 = 27) letters for the fullness. For each letter of the Holy Tongue, Abraham spent a whole year in studying it. Thus, he progressed in his understanding, from Aleph (א), the first letter, and got to the seventeenth one, the Peh – פ. That year, Abraham was 75 years old. The letter Peh – פ, is the first letter of the word p’dut – פדות (redemption). It stands facing the level of understanding with the name of Netzah – נצח (for נצחון, Victory). Yet, there was not a full Triumph here as long as offenses (sins) are withheld. With all that, approval to enter the Land of Israel was granted!

In the Zohar is written concerning the properties of the letters of the Hebrew alphabet in the chapter, “The letters of Rabi Hamnuna the Elder.”⁵

At the next date, at age 85 (75 + 10), the Creator confirmed the “Covenant of Fire” with Abraham, as we explained above. This happened after Abraham arrived at full comprehension of all 27 letters of the Hebrew alphabet. Abraham then attained the level called “Love.” He arrived at the high level of the first gate of The King, King of Kings’ Temple.

So, when he took a memento of his brother Haran; who he loved dearly and was one of his first followers, out of its casing, it was the final Nun (ן) but in Abraham’s hand it turned into a key (actually, its shape is similar looking to a key). With it, Abraham opened up the 50 (נ) gates of Insight over the 14 years, one gate after another. Then he encountered The King, King of kings and Abraham was granted a kiss on his Abraham’s forehead was then ninety-nine years old!

The secret is that the fourteenth letter out of the 27 of the Hebrew alphabet is the letter Nun (נ). 27 = 3*3*3 = 9*3*1 = 3³ *1. This is the perfect cube, which is constructed of smaller cubes, each one containing a letter of the Hebrew alphabet. The central cube (13 -1- 13) of the fourteenth letter Nun (נון) is in apposition to the Nun (נ) – the “50 Gates of Insight”. So Abraham’s journey to the high echelons would appear thus: 52 → 58 → 70 → 75 → 85 → 99.  

The awakening of that point within the heart (at age 52) and the search for the source of evil during the 6 years afterwards, the first level in attaining this hiding Wisdom (at age 58), a slow rise to the height of the letter Lamed ל with the “fiery Covenant” (at age 70), a rise to the height of the letter Peh (פ) (after another 5 years), receiving an “entrance permit” to the Land of Israel (at age 75), a rise to the King’s “fence” (after another 10 years) with the mouth’s opening פה at age 85, the end of the process – the opening of all 50 gates of Insight during 14 years and meeting The King, King of Kings, at the age of 99.

 If we count from the date of Abraham’s second birth; that is, at the age of 52 and add 85 years (his age at the “Fiery” Covenant of the Pieces) to that and we will arrive at the date of the second “Fiery Covenant” at age 137, which is the date of “Isaac and the Ram.”

“…and Abraham was not perfect until now, when he became adorned to lawfully correct the law in his stead.” The explanation:  For Wisdom cannot be poured in except by the left line. Therefore, before Abraham was included into Isaac, who is the left line, he was not perfected, for he was missing the enlightenment of Wisdom. And through the act of the Binding, Isaac became crowned by it with Wisdom’s enlightenment and became perfect. ⁶

Abraham could not attain perfection without his son Isaac attaining that same perfection.

Isaac was in his 37^th year… The age of 37 year points to the perfection of the Creation. 37 = 10 + 27 – The perfection in Wisdom and the perfection in the letters, in order to succeed to read the Book of Heaven.

Also passed 85 more years, and true perfection comes with the appearance of Jacob, who held the middle line, in whom all the lines are included. Only then did the Forefathers succeed in building the perfect “Chariot” ².

 

Appendix C:

1.   Genesis, 5: 1-32; 11:10-26:

2.  Genesis, Vayishlach, 32:29; This says that Jacob constructed the middle line with support – (Semech - סֶמֶך) from the Creator; with a screen of reflected light that is returned to its source.

3.   Numbers, Balak, 23:9:

4. Genesis, 15:17:

5. Introduction to Zohar, pp. 4-5; Sulam, vol. 1, article “The letters of Rabi Hamnuna the Elder,” pp 32-53, paragraphs 22-39.

6. Zohar, Genesis, Vayeira, pp. 238-239b; Sulam, vol. 2, article “and God tested Abraham”, pp. 146-149, paragraphs 488-494.

***

2006

We leave darkness towards light!!!

With five fold Love

Haim son Avraham Golub (Dove)

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