‫בס''ד‬

 
 ‫​משכן השלום‬
​Mishkān ha-shalom

The Tabernacle of Peace

writings on torah;

preludes & beginnings

vol. 1 ilan y.
 2

preface

‫יהם‬
ֶֽ ‫ל־מ ְס ֵע‬
ַ ‫ִשׂ ָר ֵא֖ל ְבּ ָכ‬
ְ ‫יוֹמ֔ם וְ ֵא֕שׁ ִֽתּ ְהיֶ֥ה ַ ֖ליְלָה בּ֑וֹ ְל ֵעינֵ֥י ָכל־ ֵֽבּית־י‬
ָ ֙‫שׁ ָכּן‬
ְ ‫ל־ה ִמּ‬
ַ ‫​ ִכּי֩ ֲעַנ֨ן יי ַע‬

“​The cloud of the Lord was upon the Tabernacle by day, and there was fire
within it at night, before the eyes of the House of Israel and all their journeys.”

Exodus, 40:38

The tabernacle -- a shelter, an abode, the temple in the desert: the place where God rested
with the jews in their flight from Egyptian tyranny. This is truth, the irreconcilable intuition of knowing
what is right: always present, even in the depths of the wilderness of life. Our job is to seek it, to
create a dwelling place, so that it may sprout forth and guide us.

To create a platform for the exploration of this search, to build a shelter for peace through
words, our love.

Dear reader, will you join me? Will you have the strength to follow this path to its end?

Like a doe that skips to the stream, thirsting for water, my pen thirsts for truth, the secrets of
heaven.

Follow me, whomever may.

 
 
 
 
(ongoing ​suggested playlist, to listen to before, during, or after reading -- at your absolute pleasure: 
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/1PzEbYBfHew0sx6y3M1GS7​ )
 3

​format

The purpose of this project is to create a platform for the exploration of Torah and its secrets,
as will be explained. For now the project is in its very early and immature stages, even this paper
has not gone through its final edits -- I simply felt an urgent need to share what I have written and
what I’ve learned, especially in times like these. The idea is to perhaps create a weekly or monthly
cycle of pamphlets, with a collection of different essays and also some shorter miscellaneous poetry
and other writings. Where the creative route may lead us in the end is a mystery -- eventually,
perhaps, I hope to integrate music, art, and any and all possible forms of expression into this project,
both my own and from all those who wish to contribute. Although I’m filled to the brim with
excitement thinking of all the endless possibilities, growth requires patience. One step will lead to
another.

​table of contents

❖ Introduction - the Torah……………...………………………………………………4

❖ Preludes………………………………………………………………………………..9
➢ the tradition, the rabbis​…………………………………………………9
➢ the hebrew alphabet​……………………………………………………10
​ ………………………………..13
➢ kabballah and the mystical tradition…
➢ Prophecy… ​ ……………………………………………………………...14
❖ Beginnings………………………………………………………..………………….18
➢ Bereishis, genesis … ​ …………………………………………………...18
➢ Adam and Eve​…………………………………………………………...23
 4

​Introduction

The Torah

The Torah — literally meaning ‘the teaching’ — is the fundamental text of the Jewish
religion. Called the Chumash in Hebrew — from the root word, Chamesh, meaning five, for it is
composed of five books1 — the Torah recounts the story from the beginning of creation to the
entry of the Jewish people to the promised land, Israel. Spanning thousands of years, the
Chumash narrates the trials and tribulations of the Jewish people as they come to be and must
fight through slavery and exile to finally reach freedom and redemption. This story serves as
the platform for which the Torah can then proceed to reveal the deepest mysteries of life and
provide each one of us with a blueprint for our purpose in it. Although to the eyes of the world,
the Torah seems to be a text exclusively concerned about and for jews, its study and
appreciation reveals an infinite profundity far beyond such a limited and superficial view.
Indeed, the Torah, like an ever blossoming and unfolding flower, reveals within itself endless
layers of meaning and wells of wisdom. From it pour forth waters which have the ability to
revivify, nourish, and sustain all life.

The exceptionality of this text is understood, within the context of Judaism, to spring
forth from the belief that the Torah is sourced in the mind of a supernal, higher, source — G-d,
the singular creator and fashioner of life. This absolute basic tenant of Jewish belief is
expressed in the most fundamental cry of the Jewish people, the Shema: “Shema Israel,
Ad-nai Elo-heinu, Ad-nai Ehad” — Listen, O Israel, The Lord is our God, The Lord is One.2
Truth is absolute, indivisible. All things are united and bound together by a singular source, a
Tree of Life spanning universes but springing from a singular seed. In a world of physicality,
plurality, and endless distraction, this reality seems distant and intangible. This is an age
dominated by endless information, endless option, ever increasing diversity and multiplicity:
indeed, if anything, the modern age seems to be an absolute testimony to the irreality of unity.
The Shema reveals that all of this is nothing but illusion. Modern man is like one who glances
upon the leaves of a tree in fall and sees only the myriads of colors, failing to see the trunk and
the branches that unite it all. Like leaves, everything in the world is an expression of a larger

1
In reality, in the entirety of the bible there are 24 books: Five books of Moses (the Chumash referred to here, and
usually what is meant by the term ‘Torah’), The eight books of the prophets (Neviim), and the Eleven books of the
writings (Kesuvim). Our focus, right now, will be on the study of the Chumash, which tells the story of creation and the
giving of the Torah to the Jewish People -- material will be drawn from the other books when needed.
2
Deuteronomy 6:4
 5

whole: no matter where you start from you can trace everything back to a singular unified
source, G-d. “Know this day and take unto your heart that Lord is G-d. In the heavens above
and on the earth below, there is nothing else.”3

This conclusion is not exclusive to the Torah. Developments in modern science and
physics over the past century have been reaching closer and closer to such a truth. From
zero-point energy, to the theory of Relativity and the Big Bang itself, we are nearing scientific
proof for the singular field and nature underlying all things. For Judaism, however, the unity of
all things is not just a logical axiom: G-d is not simply the zero point axis, the common
denominator of all things. Rather, the Torah proclaims the truth of a living G-d, a source who is
the constant unity and presence of all things. G-d is at every moment watering and irrigating all
the streams of life — like a supernal gardener tending to his garden. Elijah the Prophet, in his
famous cryptic and poetic discourse in the Holy Zohar4,speaks and says, “ Master of the
worlds, You are the cause of causes and producer of effects, who waters the Tree through th[e]
fountain; and that fountain is as the soul to the body, which is the life of the body.” 5Thus, when
we cry out Listen, O Israel, The Lord is Our God, the Lord is One, not only are we asserting
that we believe in a unifying field underlying all things, but we assert that this unifying field is
“Our G-d”: namely that God is alive and that we can enter in communication with Him6 every
time we seek to understand and to draw near to truth. Although we don’t understand G-d in His
entirety, what Hashem7 might be in essence, we nevertheless have a means to communicate
with Him — Torah and prayer. G-d is the absolute set, containing within Himself all things: all
the answers, all the resolutions, all the wisdom that could ever be asked for. Thus, when we
seek out G-d, we seek out to answer the ultimate questions, to embark on the ultimate journey.

Now, in an increasingly secular and atheistic world, lofty statements such as these can’t
help but raise some sort of alarm. The belief in a consciousness that supersedes human
intelligence is nothing short in our world to a belief in fairy tales, childrens’ stories. Yet, if
modernity gave itself the time to question its own premises, to bring forth and analyze its
fundamental beliefs, it would realize that they too, in some other context, were nothing short of

3
Deuteronomy 4:39
4
The Zohar (meaning ‘brilliance) is one of -- if not the most -- important and fundamental books in Kaballah and
Jewish mysticism (terms which will also explored later on); the work is framed as a narrative following Rabbi Shimon
Bar Yochai and his students as they interact with Elijah the prophet and discourse on the deepest secrets of the
Torah. This book is very dense and intricate and requires a very high level to study and comprehend -- I cannot claim
to know it in its entirety. Nevertheless, there are innumerable invaluable jewels which I’ve encountered from it which I
hope to pull from when I think it will add to our exploration and contemplation.
5
Petach Eliahu, Tiqqunei Zohar 17a.
6
It is good to make this note early on. The use of the male pronoun is only out of convention and following the
tradition of the commentators and scholars of the Torah. This, however, ​does not​ indicate anything about the gender
of G-d: for certainly, if the Creator is the unity of all things he must necessarily transcend all dualities, as we will
explore. The same goes for the use of man as a stand-in for human being: this is ​purely​ out of convention. In fact, it is
rooted in how the Hebrew language is structured, which must ascribe gender to all words.
7
Literally meaning ‘ the name’ in Hebrew, we use this term when speaking of G-d outside the context of prayer and
scripture. In Judaism, G-d has numerous names, all indicating different aspects of the creator; these are believed to
be very powerful when spoken and should not be used in vain. The term ‘Hashem’ is used instead, both out of respect
and also endearment; I will use G-d and Hashem interchangeably.
 6

fantastical. The inviolability of human rights, for example, or the rejection of slavery, would
have been decreed ludicrous not so long ago. If there is one thing that we can be certain is that
in process of human history nothing can be taken for granted — that which seems like fiction
today, could be an absolute reality tomorrow. The last centuries are proof of this. Thus, the
journey consists of trying to find some sort of reality more permanent, more eternal, that
transcends our place in time. Indeed, in this way, we connect to life as a whole and all the
generations that precede us and are to come. We learn to sing the song of life.

King Solomon, thousands of years ago, in his perennial proverbs, warned us already of
the arrogance of man, of the inability of the human being to go against the ways of his or her
heart: “There is a way that seems right to a man, but at its ends are the ways of death […] a
wayward heart will be satisfied with its ways, but a good man will take leave of him”8
(14:10-12). In Kabbalah9, the study of the deepest secrets of the Torah, the heart is often
likened to the faculty of understanding. If we apply this correspondence to the above verse, we
see that Solomon here is warning us against falling privy to our petrified conceptions and
perceptions. A wayward mind will never seek to overcome, to understand -- this is death, the
opposite of life, which is to grow, and seek constant renewal. On the flip side, then, “A good
man” is one who is capable to constantly overcome his ways and start again, walking into the
unknown, the strange, the seemingly impossible.

The endeavour of the study of Torah, then, is not like any endeavour. One must
approach this text with a profound intentionality, a reverence and awe permeated by a childlike
sense of wonderment and curiosity — only then can its doors of wisdom and knowledge be
opened to the seeker. For if one approaches these words with the arrogance of one’s
predilections and predispositions, seeking merely to find proof for that which one desires to
believe, then, the Torah closes itself off. Like a fearsome mother shielding her most beloved
cub, a mountain protecting its most precious gems, the Torah tucks aways it secrets, keeping
them safe only for those who will cherish them. The seeker must divest himself of everything
he has previously thought, to step forth onto the yellow brick road with only the singular desire
to learn. From thereonout, there is no telling where the path might lead, what jewel might be
uncovered.

This is not a derision against modernity, a battle against science. Indeed, the greatest
advances in human civilization over the past few centuries have come through these secular
studies. But it has been precisely when the secular world has championed an approach like
that mentioned by Solomon — when it has been willing to forego all its preconceptions and
take a risk into novelty — that the greatest breakthroughs have sprung through. Einstein’s

8
Proverbs, Tanakh 14:10-12
9
Kabballah comes from the Hebrew root word, ‘to receive’; it is the general term used in Judaism for the deeper and
mystical study of the Torah. Kabbalah is mainly concerned with understanding and experiencing the unseen
structures of creation, namely the spiritual and esoteric. For a long time, Kabbalah had been closed off to the general
Jewish population, reserved only for those high intellectual and moral standing; however, over recent centuries,
alongside the popularization of the Zohar and Hassidut (also to be explained later), the knowledge of Kabbalah has
become more widely accessible, its secrets coming out to the open.
 7

relativity, the invention of flight, the internet — to name a few. Indeed, all scientific
breakthroughs have come through this ability to take leave of “a wayward heart”, to try the
impossible. This is to show that the crucial aspect here is a mindset that seeks constantly to
evolve, to grow, to learn, to move forward — not the label that it carries, be it “secular,”
“religious”, etc. The only drive is ​truth.

One might think, then, that the Torah is the epitome of outdated antiquity and traditional
thinking and should have been left behind long ago -- however, these are the strange swings of
the pendulums of time. The Torah was not written and left to be; its living interaction with those
who live it and study it throughout the ages have kept it alive and breathing. This is “Our G-d”
of the Shema: a living, breathing, Creator who follows us every step of the way.

The belief in a being of higher intelligence was once seen as antiquated, necessary to
reject in order to refine and evolve the human race. Now, however, the belief in a higher
intelligence, the acceptance of a vaster reality beyond the physical, returns as the next
necessary step in the evolution of humankind. Indeed, from diet to medicine, we see that
ancient wisdom is making a return into the mainstream collective: we are thirsting for a return
to a closer connection to the earth, to direct contact and interaction with the food we eat, the air
we breathe, the ecosystems we coexist alongside, the song of nature. All the process of history
was necessary in order to bring us back, to develop in us the maturity and independence which
now allows us to return to our Creator from our own accord. These are the prophetic words of
the psalmist, “You bring man to crushing point and say to them, “return o children, of man”.10

The idea of this project is to share my own journey in this return, the ineffable beauty
and wisdom I’ve uncovered and the radical transformation it has caused in my life. A little about
myself is warranted at this point, I guess. Born in Venezuela, I spent a lot of my childhood
moving from country to country, mostly within South America — this exposed me to countless
people and a variety of different communities. Given the nature of the continent, I was exposed
and acutely aware of the great injustices and distortions of this world since a young age —
political, economic and social. Seeking to understand as I grew up, I traversed from philosophy
to philosophy, trying to find some sort of answer to the state of the world and humanity. For a
long time, I was stuck in an unabashed atheism and a strange sort of nihilistic dead end. It was
only when I began to lift my eyes away from the immediate phenomena of the world and began
to dig deeper into what may lay beneath, that things began to change. This took me on a whole
other philosophical journey which I hope to give bits and pieces of, — however, it wasn’t until I
finally reached the Torah that like a puzzle, everything began to fit in. I felt a freedom and a
sense of purpose unlike anything I’d ever felt before and the worries of the world no longer took
hold of me. I took a leave from college and have been studying in Israel since. I hope to be
able to share my experiences and the beauty I’ve seen, as far as my simple words permit.

In the end, what truly distinguishes the study of Torah from all other endeavours is its
directionality — it does not engage merely the intellect, or merely the heart, but uses both to

10
Tehillim 90:3
 8

reach to a place of knowing beyond knowing, of total synchronicity and understanding with all
things. Only your own personal study, however, only your own ears, your eyes, and your own
mind can reveal to you the experience of living, breathing, and knowing truth. The goal of this
site is absolutely and unabashedly unambitious, unpretentious. There is no convincing, no
attempt to convert, entrap, to — in anger — force a viewpoint. On the contrary, the goal is
merely to share, to help others partake on this journey by sharing my own experience This is
not only through the text itself but through the experience of breathing and walking in its ways
— for indeed, as I have stated before, the Torah is not like any other book, sitting on a shelf
and gathering dust. The Torah is a well, a living breathing mirror, reflecting that which one
seeks to look into it — seek peace, seek to understand, approach in humility, and the
landscape that springs forth is one of untold, incomparable, beauty. To each person a new
word, a singular mystery, seeded into creation for his or her eyes to find. Learning and
speaking words of Torah unlock the beauty nascent within the world and within each living
soul; by discoursing and living Torah, we help enliven the world and ignite the song which
hums inside all things and which makes all things hum. As the psalm writes, “How sweet to my
palate is Your word, more than honey to my mouth.” (119:103)

I hope you will join me in this journey, both learning and sharing. Each one at his and
her own pace, of course, according to his or her own ability. There is no race, no battle, any
longer — only the return.

--Feb 26th, 2020 - 2 Adar, 5780. Jerusalem.

 9

​Preludes

The tradition, the rabbis;

I talked briefly in the introduction of the seemingly infinite and multi-faceted nature of
the Torah; although it is true, as I mentioned, that for each pair of eye the text can reveal a new
secret, a new understanding, nevertheless there is in Judaism an important emphasis on
tradition. The study of the Torah has been going on for thousand of years -- and despite of
history’s turbulent fluctuations and its inevitable twists and turns, the Jewish people have been
able to uphold and safeguard, against all odds, the priceless wisdom inherited from the earliest
generations. It is only through the safekeeping of the rabbinical tradition that we still retain the
keys to unlocking the secrets to the perennial text of the Torah, the frameworks by which its
study can render the sweetest fruits.

The Torah is a labyrinth, a maze of words – although it can lead to most hidden and
treasured of places, if one has no direction or guide one can get easily lost in its endless
connections, allusions, puzzles or worse, fail to see anything into the text at all. This is why the
rabbis and the sages, in their beloved memory, extend their hand through time to help guide us
along as we step in the garden of the Torah; commentary builds upon commentary,
understanding upon understanding, story upon story, each thing coming to contribute, to add
onto the search for the ultimate understanding of our collective purpose and our G-d. Thus, this
journey of seeking ultimate truths is both the most personal journey of self-discovery and
self-understanding and also the most collective, most unified endeavor, we could all possibly
undertake.

I will take one example of a rabbinic approach to the Torah to give a solid example of
what this might look like. Hopefully, with the help of G-d, I will expound upon it, using it a
springboard for the work that is to come.

In the tradition of biblical exegesis – the study of scripture – the Torah is traditionally
split into four layers, marking increasing degrees of concealment. This method of dividing
scripture is often denominated Pardes – an acronym for the four these four levels. These are:

Peshat, ‫ – פשט‬the surface-level meaning, the first thing understood from the text when
properly read. From the root word ‘simple’. The map.
 10

Remez, ‫ – רמז‬the allegory, the hint of something deeper. the symbolic hiding below the
surface.

Derash, ‫ – דרש‬the interpretation, the extrapolation. The ability to take from the text
something not explicit and create something out of it.

Sod, ‫ – סוד‬the secret. The deepest level of meaning. The esoteric. The thing itself.

We see, then, that a single world, a single phrase could potentially have four levels of
meaning: this should begin to give us a glimpse of the intricacy and depth of the Torah.
Interlacing harmonies, words whispering non-revealed mysteries, the scent of a scent, a hidden
fragrance bespeaking the sweetest delights. “Pardeis” literally means orchard; and we can
understand why, for the paths of the Torah are like a garden, bearing the widest variety of fruit.
Solomon writes in his Song of Songs, poetically describing the relationship between the Jewish
people and Hashem, “As an apple tree among the trees of the forest, so is my beloved among
the sons; in his shade I delighted and sat and his fruit was sweet to my palate”.11 It is our job to
walk these paths, to see what we delicacies we can pick.

The aim of this site is not to teach the entirety of the secrets of the Torah. I cannot claim
to know even the smallest fraction of these. To reach these lofty levels of knowing requires a
lifetime of study, a knowledge of all scripture, the ins and outs of all the rabbinic enactments,
understandings, and commentaries throughout the ages – let alone a profundity of thought and
a total investment in the journey. Rather, the aim of this site is to sow a picture of beauty, to
walk the paths of this great orchard, without shame or fear. One must not resent where one is,
one’s necessity to start again, to cast everything out and start from the beginning. Yes, one is
aware that the rabbit hole of knowledge goes on and on, that each leaf conceals untold secrets
that one’s eye cannot see yet, but this is part of the beauty of the whole venture. It takes
patience, dedication, and compassion with oneself, with one’s work, to be calm in the
knowledge of ignorance. For, although one may desire to know the secrets at once, one must
realize that the leaf, at some level, is a leaf too – that the peshat is equally important to the sod
and that all have its part in the intricate web of knowledge and life. One must trust that one is
being lead in the right path and that when one follows growth and truth there is no falling. The
main thing is to remain in ​simcha (​ ‫שמחה‬, joy in hebrew), to know that everything is heading
towards where it must: as Rebbe Nachman of Breslov writes, “There is no despair in the
world!”12 This project is an invitation to a walk in the orchard: a humblest attempt to weave,
through words, a tapestry of the simple, the allegorical, the metaphorical, and the secret – and
everything in between.

11
Shir haShirim, ​Song of Songs,​ 2:3
12
Likkutei Moharin, 32.
 11

The hebrew alphabet;

One cannot learn Torah with at least speaking of the hebrew language, if not in it:
indeed, the two are inextricably linked to each other. Not only is this the language in which the
Torah was given and written, but there are an infinitude of secrets and layers to the lexicon, the
syntax, and even the letters themselves. Indeed, the tradition holds that there is no superfluous
letter, no superfluous or unintentional marking, within the text of the Torah given to Moses at
Mt. Sinai. Every single letter, every single vowel is precise and exact, like a perfect logical
function. This is the starting premise: from there, it is our job, then, to try to uncover and
understand what each word and each letter might be coming to say. Knowledge of hebrew is
not an expectation or requirement for participating and partaking in the project. Nevertheless,
as we walk this path, it is inevitable that I will begin to bring Hebrew letters and words in order
to help evince the true inner beauty of the Torah, with G-d’s help.

The hebrew alphabet has 22 letters (this is without counting the final form of 4 letters,
which are modified when they come at the end of the word), all of them lowercase and
consonants. There is an additional system of vowels that helps aid the reader in pronunciation
-- however, traditionally, such as in a Torah scroll these vowels are omitted,. Furthermore,
adding a dot to the middle of the word (called a dagesh) can modify the pronunciation, thus
essentially creating two letters out of one. The letters of the Hebrew alphabet are also,
simultaneously, the Hebrew number system -- each letter has a corresponding numerical
value and the letters themselves are used as the numbers. This means that each word, each
phrase, could have a numerical equivalent.

One of the most esoteric approaches to the Torah is called gematria. Gematria
involves the use of the numerical equivalence of words, letters, phrases and even verses, to
uncover potential links and meaning from different parts of the Torah. Indeed, this approach
can result in an infinitude of paths. The mystical tradition of Judaism also emphasizes the
unique singularity of each letter as embodying a different energy, channelling a certain,
indivisible, Divine light. If we see G-d as the author, the writer behind the words, then we can
perceive each letter as providing a unique window into the mind of the Creator. Indeed, the
creation of the world is inextricably linked to words and speech, as is evident from the ten initial
utterances by which Hashem brought everything to be: G-d said, “Let there be light [...]”13, “Let
there be a sky amidst the waters [...]”14, “Let the waters below the heaven be gathered to one
place [...]”15 and so forth. The tradition, thus, explains that the Hebrew letters were and are the
repertoire by which G-d creates and fashions life.

13
Genesis 1:3
14
​Ibid, ​1:6
15
​Ibid, ​1: 9
 12

There have been hundreds if not thousands of commentators which have attempted to
paint a picture of what each letter might represent; everything has been taken into account --
from the shape of the letter to the different pronunciations to all the numerical values.
Nevertheless, the hebrew language still remains ineffably mysterious; there is still much to be
learned about it and from it.

From this system, one can begin to perceive the intricacies of combinations and
meaning that could potentially emerge from this alphabet, let alone its infinite permutations. My
hope is to introduce the reader to some of the meaning and secrets behind the letters as they
are linked to the Torah, if he or she is not already familiar with them. The panorama of
exploration continues to grow.

Oral and Written Torah:

The common association amongst the uninitiated and the world at large when the word
‘torah’ is mentioned is that of the text, the book itself – the “Jewish Bible”. This, however, is
only a piece of what the Torah truly encompasses: what we call “the Written Torah”. However,
there is another half to the tradition which is just as significant within Judaism – this is the “Oral
Torah”. The tradition explains that when Moshe was given the Torah at Mt. Sinai, he was given
a whole set of oral instructions and explanations by G-d alongside the text. From Moshe, to
Joshua, on and on down the generations, this Oral tradition was passed down from mouth to
mouth, teacher to student, guarded and protected like the most precious of treasures. It wasn’t
until Rabbi Yehuda HaNasi (around the year 200 A.D) that the Oral Torah was compiled and
written down, making it accessible to a much wider audience, to be printed and disseminated
throughout all jewry. The Oral tradition, unlike the written Torah, however, has not remained
the same since Mt. Sinai; while it is a fundamental belief of Judaism that the text given by G-d
has remained unchanged until now, this is not so by the Oral Torah. The Oral tradition has
developed and grown with the coming of the ages, a result of the contribution of countless
rabbis and their pupils. That which was spoken to Moshe Rabbeinu in Mt. Sinai was the
framework, the means given by which man could then uncover and make blossom the entirety
of the Torah. With the changing circumstances and realities of history, each generation came
to apply this framework in a different manner, resulting in new discoveries, conclusions,
 13

meanings. And so, although everything that was to come existed in potential already at Mt.
Sinai, it was only through the work of man that it came to fruition.

There is a story related within the Gemara (one of the main compilations of the Oral
Tradition) in which Hashem takes Moses Rabbeinu to the Beit Midrash (the House of Learning)
of Rabbi Akiva, one of the chief sages who lived around the early second century, A.D:16

It is a normal afternoon and R. Akiva stands before his students, expounding some
intricate detail of a dense law. Moses, the greatest prophet of all time, walking in silently,
unseen and undisturbing, sits down at the eighth row to watch the rabbi at work. It is a hot day
and all the pupils are trying their best to follow along with the high-level discourse. It is not too
long before Moses himself begins to get lost, unable to follow the words of the sage. An ill ease
begins to fill his stomach -- He, the master of all prophets, who stood at Mt. Sinai to receive the
Torah, not being able to understand this Rabbi’s lesson! He shifts around in his seat and
mumbles something to himself, feigning consolation and comfort.

A pupil raises his hand and asks a query, “Rabbi, from where do you derive such a
law?”. Rabbi Akiva turns and responds, “It was a statute given to Moses at Sinai.” Moses, who
had begun to drift off, is shaken awake at the mention of his name, He sits up straight in his
chair and a warmth returns to him. He feels more at ease now: for indeed, this is still the same
Torah that was given to him. 17

What this story evinces is that though the Torah remains the same, it has the ability to
metamorphosize and reach new and unforetold heights according to the times and the minds
who set their thoughts to it. This relationship between the Written Torah and the Oral Torah,
then, is representative of the unique and special bond between G-d and the Creation; the
Written Torah is the work of G-d, and the Oral Torah comes through the toil of man. It is only
when we unite these two, when man -- the lower -- seeks to unite and create with Hashem --
the higher -- that the entirety of the Torah comes to be, that everything is weaved together, and
the purpose of creation is fulfilled.

Until today, the Oral tradition remains alive, thriving like never before; indeed, in Jewish
education it represents the bulk of the study. This “Oral Torah” is incredibly meticulous,
detailed, and wide-ranging; far too much for the scope of this website to undertake in its
entirety. However, I will take from it when I can, when I think it will serve to deepen our
understanding and meditation. More than anything, it is important to note and always be aware
of the Oral tradition that lays behind and beyond the text; it is a constant reminder that the
Torah is far more than words on a page – it has been breathing and speaking for hundreds of
years, from rabbi to rabbi, teacher to student. The very same words we read today have been
read by thousands of eyes , pondered by thousands of minds, guarded and treasured for
centuries. If it weren’t for the Oral tradition, there would be no way for us to uncover the secrets

16
Talmud Bavli, Menakhot 29b.
17
Note, this narrative is embellished and in my own words :)
 14

of the Torah – for each generation would be disjointed, disconnected from the knowledge of the
preceding one.

I hope to have begun to show a glimpse of the beautiful tapestry that is Torah and the paths it
can take us down.

Kabbalah and the mystical tradition​;

Since time immemorial, a heartbeat of mysticism has pumped within Judaism. This
mysticism, like all mystical traditions, sought and seeks to connect to the divine, to contemplate
the self at its very profoundest levels to thus refine and elevate the experience of being alive.
The Torah is the mechanism to achieve this, the mirror which allows this observation to take
place. As one can imagine, the profundities and secrets attained by such a tradition are beyond
counting and beyond understanding. It is not my aim in anyway to explain or expose all these
secrets here; not only do I not pretend to know them all but these secrets do not come at the
tap of button, a click of a page. The mystical pursuit is one which requires years of study,
practice, and guidance, let alone an absolute dedication to its cause. Nonetheless, it is my
wholehearted attempt to try to understand and internalize the goal of the mystical tradition and
what its role might be both within Judaism and modernity as a whole. For I firmly believe that
the Jewish mystical tradition is absolutely unique in its ability to create a bridge between the
worldly and the divine, between the deepest levels of self and daily, seemingly mundane, life.
This indeed is what distinguishes it from all other traditions and makes it a sort of bridge
between the East and West. Generally speaking, the Eastern traditions have prioritized
spirituality and contemplation, perceiving the denial and rejection of the physical world as a
necessary step in reaching the deepest connection to the source of Self. The West, on the
other hand, especially in the last few centuries, have despaired of the importance of inner
realities; development and attainment is measured solely, seemingly, by its results in
physicality. Everything is about what can be seen and touched, understood and validated by
external society -- wealth, status, etc.
 15

Judaism, through its mystical study, seeks to strike a perfect balance between these
poles of the human psyche. Indeed, the contemplation of the self, of one’s habits, of what and
who one is, where one comes from, lies at the very core of the Torah: this, in some sense, is
the very purpose for being alive -- to question, to seek. Furthermore, Jewish mysticism also
recognizes, in great part, the illusion of physicality -- that status, wealth, and externalities mean
nothing in comparison to the internal markers of progress, happiness, friendship, satisfaction.
However, the radicality of Judaism is that it does not then seek to deny this world. On the
contrary, the above conclusion must lead us to absolutely glorify our world, this lifetime, the
people we are around: for it is only the physical world, with all its troubles, tribulations,
confusions, and illusions, that can serve as a springboard for our growth. Our lives are a
reflection of our inner reality, of what we focus on, on our aspirations and values -- the inner,
meditative, work thus serves to ​transform​ our realities, to weave networks of kindness and
build structures of goodness. By our inner growth, we develop the ability to respond to each
situation with peace, to approach each encounter with love and the attempt to understand and
reconcile. This creates a ripple effect which can reach to the farthest corners of the earth, and
indeed, as the Torah promises us, the universe.

Jewish mysticism, as I will hope to show, which for so long has either been ridiculed or
cast over with fear, in reality teaches the simplest lesson: love and the betterment of the self.
Not only that but it redeems them by evincing their ineffable, resounding, cosmic power -- a
singular act of kindness, let alone a life lived towards the good, can reverberate to places
unknown, depths unseen. This is why I wholeheartedly believe that the Torah and its mystical
study can provide some of the most powerful and necessary tools for the transformation of
one’s life, and by extension, the world -- especially in these strange and troubled times we live
in.

Prophecy

The prophetic line within Judaism is even more refined, constrained and limited than
that of mysticism. The prophetic understanding transcends even the rationality of the mystic,
for it is a revelation that comes only by the hand of G-d. Although one can say the same about
the kabbalist, and indeed about all study of the torah, nevertheless, the prophet is especially
singled out amongst these. The prophet is a mouthpiece, a vessel, chosen by G-d to relay
 16

certain information to the Jewish people and by extent, the world. While the Kabbalist learns
and follows axiomatic logic to reach certain mystical conclusions, the fate of the prophet sits
altogether outside the system. No human rationality, no logic, can explain such an appointment
by G-d, can understand its timing and its denouement. The prophet is the sign of G-d’s
transcendent irrationality, of the ability of the infinite to completely interject in the affairs of man
and be revealed within physicality. The prophet is a breathing pipeline proving G-d’s presence
in the world.

Prophecy was a fundamental part of the Jewish tradition for a good deal of its history;
through it, the prophet, either in a state of visions or dream, would receive direct
communication from Hashem which, if instructed to do so,he would then relate to the Jewish
people. From Jeremiah, to Isaiah, to Ezekiel, each prophet had a unique message for the
people of his time; through them G-d helped give instruction to help direct the Jewish people on
the proper path to the unfolding and development of their highest potential. Indeed, Moses
himself is called the “greatest of prophets” and the Giving of the Torah itself can be seen as
having happened with the realm of the prophetic. Yet, with the disappearance of the age of the
miraculous, in which G-d was openly present with the Jewish people -- such as at the splitting
of the red sea and at the construction of the first two temples --, prophecy slowly petered out.
As it is written in the Tosefta, “Once the last prophets, Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi, died,
the prophetic spirit ceased in Israel.” (Sotah 13:4). Since the passing away of the last prophets,
there has been no revealed and accepted prophetic communication from Hashem to the
Jewish people; all we have been left with is what those of old wrote -- and though they spoke to
the people of their time, nevertheless, they speak to all. The prophets tapped into an arena
beyond time, to the most concealed levels of causality within creation -- they used their small
place in history as a springboard into the timeless, and from there spoke to all the ages to
come. There is much we can learn from them and what they have said, for they were given
some of the deepest insights into history, insights which few eyes have ever seen.

To be able to learn anything from prophecy we need to first let go of our beliefs and
common understanding of time and how history works. In Judaism, human history is not seen
as a game of dice, played upon the checkerboards of time; rather, it is a project, a developing,
growing, entity, with a definite end. It is very much like a tree, sourced in a singular point,
spreading out into countless branches seeking to give fruit. Indeed, Chassidut18 compares time
to a living being, “Just as hearts beat, lungs inhale and exhale, energy pulsates in waves,
particles oscillate between negative and positive states, so the very substance of the cosmos

18
Hasidic philosophy is one of the more recent strains of thought to develop within Judaism. Starting with the Bal
Shem Tov in Ukraine in the 17th and 18th century, the overarching aim of the movement was to popularize the
esoteric side of the Torah -- which had been largely confined to the scholarly class -- and bring it to the general
population in a way that could be easily grasped and understood. Hasidism teaches that a direction connection to G-d
is available to all people, at all times, not to a certain exclusive group of certain intellect. This movement has grown
incredibly since the times of Bal Shem Tov and has branched into many different strains; indeed, hasidism comprises
a great deal of Judaism today. This philosophy has greatly inspired me and I hope to pull from its wisdom when I can,
G-d willing.
 17

continually oscillates.”19 Like a tree in mid-growth, however, it is unclear to know what fruits will
sprout, how large it will grow, where it will branch out towards -- all the tree can ever know is
the impulse towards growth. Without directionality, however, this tendency can be
mischanneled, left uncontrolled, and inevitably wreak havoc and destruction. Indeed, if one
steps back and glances at human history, one realizes that all human endeavours, both good
and bad, have been ruled by this impulse for growth -- to burst forward, to grow out the tree.
Mischanneled into anger, hatred, the impulse for conquest, this has resulted in countless war,
strife, and pain. On the flip side, it has also resulted in the greatest advancements and
developments in our history: technology and the rize of all civilization.

We see indeed that this impulse for growth is the most powerful energy, the very power
of creation itself. Now, more than ever, however, it seems as if humanity is at a crossroads: we
have an ineffable amount of power for growth, for expansion -- the issue right now is deciding
where we want to channel it. Currently, it seems as if we are overridden by endless confusion,
disagreement, anxiety, lack of clarity; everyone claims to hold the truth, quick to disparage all
differences. This is when the words of the prophets come to help us --they were able to get a
glimpse over the seeming uncertainty and blindness of time and thus see where everything is
headed, what all of this has come for. What they describe is that this process of suffering and
doubt has been nothing but the birthing pain for something much more beautiful laying ahead:
Jeremiah, who lived during one of the most violent periods of the life of the Jewish people,
witnessing the fall of The Holy Temple in Jerusalem and the abandonment of the Torah by his
people , nonetheless wrote “For I know the thoughts that I think about you, says the Lord,
thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.”20 Human history up to now
has been naught but a growing pain, lessons and failures coming to teach us how to properly
reach our destination. This is the foundation and beginning of Faith, to understand that the
beginning is tied to the end: just as we came from an infinite source of goodness, so we will
return to it.

The Torah and all prophecy revolves around the concept of a time of redemption, a time
of judgement when all the suffering of the world will be justified and divine justice will rule.
Ezekiel, who saw the destruction of the first temple, wrote, “The righteousness of the righteous
will be credited to them, and the wickedness of the wicked will be charged against them”21 This
might give the impression of a zealous, vengative, G-d -- however, we must understand that
the punishment the Creator delivers upon his creation is not one out of vengeance, for that
would imply that He is at some sort of equal level to us, G-d forbid: “[...] As I live, says the Lord
God, I do not wish for the death of the wicked, but for the wicked to repent of his ways so that
he may live.”22 Rather, we see that the punishment of the wicked is self-inflicted. When the time
of redemption will come, those who have turned away from doing good, of being kind, and
have instead pursued only folly will have everything they held dear shattered, all their vanities

19
Freeman, ​What is time?
20
Jeremiah 29:11
21
Ezekiel 18:20
22
Ezekiel 33:11
 18

melting before them: as Daniel, another one of the prophets, known for his masterful ability to
interpret dreams, writes, “and the multitudes who sleep in the dust of the earth will awake:
some to everlasting life, others to shame and everlasting contempt.”23

It is thus in this final time that the tree of history will finally bear its fruits and we will all
be able to see and understand what everything was for. Although in the popular consciousness
and in other religions this is depicted as an apocalyptic, end of world, disaster, filled with anger
and rage, the Torah describes a much more profound and beautiful reality: Isaiah depicts a
world in which the very nature comes to sing along with man, “Sing,o heavens, for the Lord has
done this, shout, o lowest parts of the earth! Mountains, burst forth in song, the forest and the
trees all therein; for the Lord has redeemed Jacob, and with Israel he shall be glorified,”.24 The
motif of a time to come when good will reign and peace will overcome evil is stated, either
explicitly or not, throughout the entirety of the Torah -- not only the prophets. Indeed, one could
say that this is in some sense the crux of Jewish theology: that perfect divine justice exists for
all our deeds and that this justice is good and merciful.

The difference between Judaism and other religions, perhaps, is that the Torah
proclaims this to be true not only in some distant afterlife but, rather, that it will be true on this
world, on this earth. In fact, this is so much so, that the resurrection of the dead is a central
doctrine in Judaism; namely, that at the end of times, the dead will come back to life on this
earth, for it will be here that divine justice is revealed: “My corpses shall rise; awaken and sing,
you who shall dwell in the dust, for a dew of lights is your dew [...].”25 The whole purpose of
history then is to bring this to be on this planet, to facilitate the arrival of supernal judgement
and ease the final verdict on humanity.

It is at this point that the words of prophets can be of incredible help to a seemingly lost
generation. Through the prophet’s descriptions of the endpoint of history and the time
approaching it, we can come to a profound understanding of our world and what it is going
through. Indeed, one of the first signs of the times preceding days of redemption handed down
to us is that of great sociological and technological upheaval and change. The Zohar, one of
the most important kabbalistic texts in Judaism, predicted from a verse in Genesis that, around
the year 5600 ( in the Jewish calendar, corresponding to 1830 in the civil calendar) there would
be begin a bursting forth of great wisdom in the world.26 We see that Industrial Revolution and
the unprecedented, exponential growth it brought, lines up almost exactly with this date: hand
in hand with scientific wisdom, the Zohar also predicted that supernal and spiritual wisdom
would also spring forth from this time onwards. And indeed, we see that since the 19th century,
although secularism has risen, the dissemination of previously esoteric spiritual knowledge has
only become more and more widespread. The spread of Buddhism to the west, the revolution

23
Daniel 12:2
24
Isaiah, 44:23
25
Isaiah 26:19
26
Leiter, ​Floodwaters of Wisdom.
 19

of the 1960’s, the World Wars, the rise and fall of communism: all of these phenomena are
signs of a rapidly approaching new age.

It goes without saying that since the onset of the 20st century, humanity has entered a
spiral of exponential change, from technological advancement to shifts in political and
economic structures never before experienced on the planet. This has been both for good and
for bad: although we can now build that which we’ve never built before -- from planes, to cars,
to computers -- we also have the absolute power of destruction, both of others and ourselves.
There is inestimable potential for good but also incomprehensible potential for evil.

Along with this change, our prophets and sages also predicted that there would be a
great distortion of morality and a confusion about the basic values of human existence.
Falsehood would proliferate as tyrants reign over and oppress the people of the earth, “[...] and
justice has turned away backward, and righteousness stands from afar [...] and truth is lacking,
and he who turns away from evil is considered mad,” (Isaiah 59:14). Vanity fills our world:
although we have endless information at our fingertips, it is wasted away in follies, in pursuits
of fame and pleasure that have no destination, no end. Fear and angst rule over the earth, and
it is hard to find one person who does not go from pang to pang of anxiety, lost in the mazes of
modern tribulations. The abundance of our development has led us to settle into complacency,
entrapping us rather than serving to widen our gratitude and seek truth. There is no lack of
examples of this throughout the past 150 years of humanity, an era of war and conflict. This is
not a reason to despair, however, to throw away the towel on the human endeavour: on the
contrary, the Torah guarantees us that this only the birthpangs of something much greater and
more beautiful. We can either facilitate this process by doing good as long as we can -- or we
can delay the inevitable and continue in our blindness. This latter option is the apocalyptic
scenario alluded to: when we will have to face the arrival of an incomprehensibly larger
metaphysical and moral reality in fear and confusion.

This is where Torah and its study provides the tools necessary to bring redemption, not
only at a collective level but in the sphere of the communal and the individual. The Torah lets
us see through the illusion of the confusion of the world and plants us in our garden. G-d has
given us the perfect arena, the perfect Temple through which we can serve, grow, and better
ourselves. This is the arena of the self: our thoughts, speech and action. If we can perfect and
refine these as best we can, if we can align these with the source of all goodness and peace -
G-d -, then we have fulfilled our duty as best we can and no matters of the world can come to
touch us. Here we begin to see the profound layering of the Torah: the Temple, the offerings,
the desert, the promised land. These are all images of a physical reality that reflect a blueprint
for profound internal truths. G-d willing, we will explore these as far as our understanding can
take us -- the universe is our canvas. When one seeks peace and pursues it, there are no
boundaries or limitations to the transformation that can be effectuated. Perhaps there is a
reason Hashem took away prophecy from the world: the prophets heard, saw -- now it is our
time to create, to bring to be, to live and breathe the prophecy of redemption.
 20

27

​Beginnings

Bereishis​ ​- Genesis

The first book of the Chumash is entitled Bereishis, after the first word of the
first verse of the whole Torah, “Bereishis bara elokim et hashamayim vet haretz”: In the
beginning G-d created the heavens and the earth.28 The word ‫אשׁ֖ית‬ ִ ‫ ְבּ ֵר‬is a composite word, as
is common throughout hebrew. The ‫ ְבּ‬is a prefix meaning, ‘in’ or ‘at’ and ‫אשׁ֖ית‬ ִ ‫ ֵר‬means the ‘head’.
Thus, the literal translation of the word would be “at the head”, although it is most commonly
translated into english as ‘in the beginning’. There are innumerable secrets to this verse, let alone
the first word; so much so, that a Kabbalistic view holds that all of the Torah can be found in this

27
Schedel, Hartmann. ​Nuremberg Chronicle.​ 1493.
28
Genesis 1:1
 21

singular opening noun. Indeed, we will see that many of the things described in Bereishis become
a template for everything that is to follow down the river of history. The first book of the Torah is
thus all about beginnings: the description of the creations of the heavens and the earth, of the first
man and his unique role on earth, the journeys of the earliest forefathers of the Jewish people:
Avraham and Sarah, Isaac and Rebecca, Jacob and Rachel and Leah. Through these first stories
of mankind, we see the beginning of the formulation of the most beautiful and indescribable
relationship between man and his Creator; Bereishis gives us a window into the original thought,
the impulse that pushed G-d to breathe life into being. From here, we can begin to understand
what our purpose on this world might be.

I do not believe I'll have time to go through the entirety of the first book of the torah in
detail, at least not at this point; however, I think that even looking at the word bereishis more in
depth might help us to begin to uncover the profundities of the Torah. As I mentioned above,
reishis means ‘head’; from here, we see that the beginning of all torah, of all creation, is likened to
the ‘head’. From the use of this anthropomorphic language we begin to get a glimpse of the living
and unified nature of creation and its inextricable connection to the Torah. If this is the head, then
everything that is to come - the heavens, the earth, and everything within them - is the body,
commanded and guided by that above it. However, we must be very careful to understand that this
language is metaphoric; indeed one of the thirteen guiding principles of the Jewish faith, outlined
by Spanish 12th century rabbi Maimonides, is “the belief in God’s incorporeality”, meaning his lack
of body or shape.29 However, G-d has, in his characteristics and expressions, attributes that
resemble the human features -- indeed, this is because, as we will see later in Bereishis, man is
made in the image of G-d. This is a difficult concept to grasp at first, but hopefully we will be able
to build up to it.

From the beginning, the Torah does away with the notion of a ‘watchmaker’ G-d, one who
sets everything into motion and walks away: for just like a body, as long as it is alive, must be
attached to its directing and commanding head, so too creation is constantly commanded, guided,
and vivified by the Creator, G-d, blessed be He. Indeed, there is an understanding in Judaism that
‘bereishis’ does not refer to some distant, far away, past; rather this is an eternally occuring
moment in which everything is constantly being brought to life. We say everyday in the morning
prayers, “Blessed are you, G-d, our G-d [...] He who illuminates the earth and those who dwell
upon it with mercy, and in his goodness renews every day continually the work of creation”.30 The
word used for creation is ‘bereishit’ itself: as the day awakens, we thank G-d for having brought
the world to be again, for having breathed life into ‘bereishit’. Thus, we see that the beginning is
the constantly, recurring, and eternal moment: that at any moment that there is life, it means the
‘head’ is awake and aware, watching and guiding. At any instant, G-d forbid, the Creator could
decide to forget and thus stop vivifying the worlds with life. This evinces the miraculous nature of
this moment, in which we breathe, we speak, we perceive. The realization of the immensity of this
truth should instill an immense feeling of gratitude: every waking moment is proof that He
remembers us, that He knows and trusts us. This is the power of the now, the power of meditation
and contemplation and the gates it can open.

29
See Rambam’s 13 Principles of Faith
30
Blessings of the Shema
 22

‘Bereishis’ is the access to absolute freedom and complete redemption, the freshest breath
of air possible. It shows us that no matter where we are, no matter how many mistakes we think
we have made, no matter how many boxes and identities we’ve gotten ourselves trapped into,
everything can begin afresh, anew, as if nothing preceded it. This is only possible, however,
through true contemplation, through faithful clinging and yearning to the Creator, the Emanator, the
Head. This is not just a kink of creation but its very constitution: ‘bereishis’ contains everything in it
and everything contains it. This gives us an insight into the very fabric of being and its benevolent,
compassionate, and infinitely patient nature. Everything was formed only to benefit growth, to allow
for constant renewal: we say in our prayers, three times a day “blessed are you Lord, who causes
salvation to flourish”. G-d has shown us unending patience, giving us opportunity after opportunity
to take us out of our predicaments, to offer us life with every single breath. It is us, in our
blindness, that have missed the boat and failed to see the beauty around us -- the trees, the sun,
the birds, the song of life.

The first verse of Bereishis thus continues, “ [...] Elokim created the Heavens and the
Earth.” Elokim is one of the many names of G-d used throughout the Torah and known to the
31

Jewish tradition: there are very profound secrets to all these different names but for now it suffices
to say that it stands for G-d. As I’ve explained earlier, in the introduction, one of the fundamental
tenets of Judaism is the absolute and indivisible unity of the Creator: beyond the seeming illusion
of physicality, Judaism understands all of reality to be an infinite united self. Thus, we see in the
verse that opens up the Torah, the most primordial mitosis, from one - G-d - into two: the heavens
and the earth. Now, although Jewish tradition firmly believes the heavens to be just as real as the
earth, these two domains can also be seen to stand as a representation of one of the most basic
polarities in reality: that of light and darkness, concealment and revelation. Although in the verses
to follow, we will follow G-d as he forms actual light and dark, nonetheless we see that the first
motion was to create Heaven and Earth. We see that although the very concept of duality is
necessary to create life -- for, if not, how could you distinguish anything from anything else? --,
nonetheless, the heavens and the earth precede light and dark. This shows that the whole purpose
of creation was to create a domain where us, G-d’s creatures, could reside: both earthly and
heavenly beings. This was the purpose of the first mitosis, of the impulse to create life -- G-d
wanting to create a home for his children.

Now, we should look deeper into what ‘heaven’ and ‘earth’ might potentially stand for. On a
most basic level, it seems as if the heaven refers to the skies and the earth to the ground;32
however, this too represents a basic duality in creation, as stated above. The skies and the earth
can be soon as referring to the spiritual and the physical, awareness and ignorance, closeness
and distance. This is the interplay of creation, the human with the beyond, the mind with the body,
the winds and the grounds, the rising fires and the flowing waters. Kabballah describes the
physical as being the lowest stage in the gradation of refinement that reaches up to G-d: like
stalactites on the wall of a cave, ancient stone laying at the foundation of the mountain, physicality
is the densest part of creation. This is the earth. Above, reaching ever upwards lay spiritual world
upon spiritual world, ever more refined, ever approaching Source, the Creator of all.

31
Genesis, 1:1
32
​Likutei Sichot, ​vol​ 25, pg. 1-2.
 23

Now, the concept of spiritual worlds is very difficult for a modern audience to understand
or internalize, seeming to be absolutely beyond the fantastical. Yet, what we fail to realize is that
we are in constant interaction with the spiritual worlds through the realms of emotion, thought and
speech; man is entirely unique in his ability to both be in physicality and still be able to interact with
these worlds -- his mind is the tool. The primary issue,then, is our lack of awareness of such an
interaction. This permits those who do have awareness of them to manipulate their means against
the best interest of the general populace: we see this in corporate media, advertising, and other
tropes of modernity that seek to gain control over our emotional states and the domains of our
thought and our speech -- it is our job to break free from these methods of control through
awareness and a direct connection with spirituality. The world of ideas, dreams, the realm of the
imagination, then: these are the waters of the divine, the upper winds that reach down to our world.
These, indeed, are the heavens.

G-d, then, is the unity of both these realms: “You are the highest of the highest, the most
hidden of the hidden [...] You are He binds them, who unites them,” Elijah the Prophet says to G-d,
the creator, in the famous passage from the Holy Zohar.33 We thus realize that G-d is beyond the
perfect and the imperfect -- rather, He creates the concept of perfection and imperfection, success
and failure, light and darkness: all to help us learn and grow us into our best selves. This, then, is
the purpose of creation, as the Bala-Tanya, one of the early Lubavitcher rebbes, writes in Tanya,
his most famous work, “In a well-known statement, our Rabbis declare that the purpose for which
the world was created is to that the Holy One, Blessed be He, desired to have an abode in the
lower realms”.34 What does this mean? Namely that the earths and the heavens may be unified,
with the realm of the divine finding a resting place in our world through the use of our creative
exploration and expression: thus creating a world of peace, of rest, of contemplation and
aspiration, friendship, art and song.To use the mind to its fullest potential and to scale up the world
of ideas to flourish the most beautiful life on earth possible. This is only the first verse.

The Torah continues; “ Now the earth was astonishingly empty, and darkness was on the
face of the deep, and the spirit of God was hovering over the water”.35 This is the primordial,
womb-like, stage of creation: only darkness exists, the seed in its shell, unhatched, ungrown.
Nothing has yet come to fruition. And yet, “the spirit of G-d” hovers over the waters: this is the
potential in potentia, the thought of the idea, G-d’s plan for us. We, at our embryonic stage are
steeped in darkness, ignorance -- we cannot see where we are going, what all this is about.
However, we must see that the ‘spirit of G-d’ rests upon us: the potential life that G-d has planned
out for us, the reason for us being created in the first place. Like an infant child, we must trust that
that which watches over us has brought us into this world for a reason and that it has only the
perfect lesson in store for us. Our job is create the vessel, the earth, which can thus receive the
supernal, divine, seed: the garden where life can be planted and grow.

33
Tiqqunei Zohar 17a, translated by Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi.
34
Tanya, ch. 36
35
Genesis 1:2
 24

. “And G-d saw that the light was good and G-d separated between light and darkness”.36
Rashi37, one of the main commentators on the Torah, writes that this was in order to hide the light
of the righteous for a later point in time;38 by separating light from dark, G-d created the possibility
of a situation in which light could be concealed, in which the true nature of reality becomes hidden.
This thus allows for a situation of faith to develop, a space in which man can yearn and cry out to
his Creator. G-d let the light become the work and fruition of the righteous who seek it -- even in
times of darkness, when it is hard to find. This is the redemptive nature of G-d: He always rewards
those who seek, who are faithful and honest in their incessant search for the good. This is the veil
of this world: what is seen doesn’t represent where one is in G-d’s books, where one’s merits are --
only G-d knows who He loves. The era of redemption, then, is a time when physicality will reflect
the inner reality: we will ​see​ the good, ​know​ the good. The purpose of creation, then, is to flower
this light, to birth an era of unprecedented revelation and give fruit to the supernal seed. Everything
has been a growth process for this moment in time.

“And G-d called the light day, and the darkness He called night, and it was evening and
morning, one day.”39 It is only through the separation of light from dark, of good from evil, of high
from low, connection from disconnection, that we can thus have the full and complete day. This is
the way of nature, how G-d set out the mechanism of creation. Everything always cycles around
these two polarities, a dance of opposites: the classic tao symbol of the yin-yang is a beautiful,
ancient, representation of such a concept.

It is only after there has been a separation of light from darkness, then, that we can have
the day; however, we saw earlier that G-d only spoke of bringing the ‘light’ into being, not the
darkness. It was the light that was created, not the darkness: the darkness was only separated
from within the light. So we see that although a day encompasses seemingly equal halves of
darkness and light, it is truly only the light that is real. Darkness is not a separate entity in of itself
but rather merely a concealment of the light. This, then, necessarily follows for the other dualities
listed above: good and evil, high and low, awareness and ignorance. Bereishis teaches us that the
hard times in our life -- the darkness, the negativity -- are always a means of revealing the light.
Everything comes to teach us how to grow, to point us to where we must go.

In the six days to come, G-d weaves together the rest of the fabric of creation: the
firmament on the first day, and man on the sixth day -- and everything in between. On the seventh
day, G-d rested; for he saw the creation of Man, and saw that the purpose of everything would be
fulfilled. Everything was for us.

This will suffice for now.

36
​ :5.
​Ibid, 1
37
Rabbi Shlomo Yitzhak was a medieval French torah scholar and one of the most important contributors to all
commentary on the Torah. Indeed, it is difficult to find a Torah book nowadays that does not bring his commentary
alongside it. When reading scripture, Rashi’s commentary is normally the first source resorted to when attempting to
uncovering the meaning of the verse.
38
Rashi to v. 1:5.
39
Ibid, 1​ :5.
 25

40

Adam and Eve

“God then formed the human from the dust of the earth and blew into his nostrils
the soul of life …” (bereishis 2:7). It is on the sixth day that G-d forms man, ‫( אדמ‬adam) -- which is
also his name. In Hebrew, this is spelled with the three letters:‫ א‬aleph, ‫ ד‬dalet, ‫ מ‬mem. As I
mentioned in the introduction, hebrew letters and words are imbued with meaning -- this is
especially true of Hebrew names, which carry an incredibly profound significance within Jewish
theology. Indeed, so much so, that it is taught that although we have lost prophecy, there is still
one area of life where we can catch a glimpse of revealed Divine Wisdom: through names.
Although seemingly it is the parents who choose a baby’s name, Jewish tradition teaches that G-d
was truly behind the choice. Indeed, we see in Genesis, during the process of creation, that G-d
himself was to first to give things their names; thus, we find that names in Hebrew are inextricably
linked to the essence of the person or the thing, singling out their unique and individual portion in
this world. There is much we can thus learn out from the hebrew names and words given not only
to all the characters in the Torah but, indeed, to all the things in creation. Adam is no exception,
then: this name, given not only to the first human being but meaning, also, humanity in general, is
imbued with secrets and meaning.

40
Peter, Johann Wenzel. ​Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden / Adam and Eve in the earthly paradise, ​1800-1829
 26

The aleph ,‫ א‬, the first letter in the name Adam is also the first letter of the Hebrew
alphabet; a silent letter, unless vowelized, it is thus likened to the breath of life, the one which
brings the whole alphabet and all the possible worlds that can come from it into being. Like man, it
is at the head, the first in G-d’s thought, the one with the potential to direct everything to come. As
the Bal-HaTanya comments [on a different topic], “It is written in the Zohar, ‘He who blows, blows
from within’, that is to say, from his inwardness and his innermost being. For it is of his inward and
innermost vitality that a man emits through blowing with force.”41 If we liken the aleph to the breath
of life, then, we see that it is an emanation from the very innermost essence of G-d. Indeed, the
letter itself can be see as being composed of three other letters: two yuds, separated by a vav. The
upper yud is G-d, the infinite creator: the lower yud is man, created in His image. The vav is the
veil of faith that simultaneously separates and connects the two.

The two remaining letters dalet and mem, spell out the word ‘dam’ -- blood in hebrew.
Thus we see that a-dam is the breath of life blown into blood: the power of the creation of the
alphabet given to a living, breathing, being. We see, here, that man is formed as a bridge between
the spiritual worlds: the realm of potential, thought, and speech -- previously exclusive only to G-d
-- and the physical, the blood that pumps life. This is the power of man, his ability to navigate the
intellect, to use words to construct the most beautiful worlds. This is why G-d gives the human
power over the world: he is the only one capable of reaching into the supernal worlds of the
intellect and the imagination while still being in this physical world. Only he, then, is able to thus
transform this world, to bring down G-d’s kingdom and the fruition of all being.

After finishing the creation of the garden and of man, G-d reasons that ‘it is not
good that the human be alone. I will make a helper for him.”42 G-d then proceeds to put Adam into
a deep sleep; during his slumber, he takes Adam’s side and forms Eve out of it: “[...] and He took
one of His sides, and He closed the flesh in its place. And the Lord God built the side that He had
taken from man into a woman, and He brought her to man.”43 To the modern eye it might seem as
if this narrative indicates some primordial tendency for man to inferiorize woman; however, this is
not what is happening at all. Indeed, it is undeniable that the language used here is very cryptic --
instead of following our first intuition to doubt and cast such an account out however, we must
keep an open mind regarding what could be being said here, of the possibility of more profound
depths than those that meet the eye. We need to understand that the Torah is not always talking
through the terms and the connotations we ascribe to words. This is where the importance of the
tradition comes in; through the contribution of each generation and each mind to the great web of
knowledge, we are thus able to weave a broader and broader picture over time of what creation is
and what it all might mean. In this sense, Torah is a lesson in humility: it teaches one to admit
one’s shortcomings, forcing oneself to reach out to the aid of others. The endeavour of Torah is
not about a final number, about getting a correct answer; rather, it is about truly ​understanding,​
about exerting oneself in pursuing and finding truth. As soon as one begins to learn Torah, one is
shown that the linguistic and perceptual frameworks of reality one possessed and thought to be
true might in fact have been absolutely flawed and outright false. This can cause anxiety, if one
clings onto a selfish desire to be right; if one is free from such concerns, then, this should provide

41
Tanya, Chapter 2.
42
Bereishis, 2:18.
43
Ibid, 2:21-22
 27

endless excitement -- for it means that there is only more and more to learn, at each and every
turn.

Let us try to dissect this passage, then. Commentary on the above verse indicates that this
Adam, prior to formation of Eve, was not a man but rather a primordial human, fusing both
masculine and feminine aspects.44 The first human being, then, was above the duality of gender;
this placed him above the animals, who G-d, as Rashi comments, had “brought before him [...]
male and female.”45 Masculinity and femininity, like light and darkness, giving and receiving, is one
of the most fundamental dualities in the expression of nature -- this also corresponds to the
heavens and earth, discussed previously. We see, then, that in the garden, prior to Eve, there was
a singular human, complete and whole, uniting dualities within him/herself - this was the primordial
concept of man, a being perfectly capable of uniting spirituality and physicality, heaven and earth.
This, however, led to a conundrum: the human being became all too powerful, too complete,
threatening to cause imbalance to G-d’s heavenly reign. The Genesis Rabba, a compilation of
midrashim46 writes that after forming man, Gd thought to himself, “It is not good that human be
alone [...] Lest they [the creation] say, there are two dominions: the Holy one, blessed be He, is
alone amongst the heavenly beings, and He has no mate, and this one [man] among the earthly
creatures has no mate.”47 The Lubavitcher Rebbe48 further fleshes this thought out: “ [for the
human being to be alone] gives the impression that he is a self-sufficient deity, since I, too, have
no mate. I will therefore separate his female aspect from him, rendering him incomplete without
her and in need of her assistance”49. By separating man and woman, then, G-d created a situation
of interdependence, necessitating the development of relationship, communication, and mutual
understanding.

We saw earlier, in the first chapter, that G-d had “created the human in his image,” ; we
see here that primordial adam, the blueprint of all humankind to come, was an almost immaculate
reflection of G-d, the closest thing in this creation to fully reflecting divinity. Indeed, our sages “see
man as the pinnacle of creation, surpassing the angels, mirroring the Divine.”50 Now, this may

44
Chumash, with interpolated translation and commentary based on the works of The Lubavitcher Rebbe, on
Bereishis 1:19, pg. 17
45
Rashi to v. 21
46
​Midrash, (‫ )מדרשׁ‬d ​ erives from the root to inquire; midrashim are rabbinical interpretations from time immemorial
that have sought to explain verses in the Torah, linking them to external sources, the daily realities of the life of
jewry and any other knowledge or information that might be relevant or pertinent to the section of the torah at
hand. Midrashim are usually divided into two: halachas and aggadatos. Halacha is the area of Jewish law, and
thus these midrashim tend to deal with all manner of details of law that have been learned out over the ages
from certain verses. Aggadot are stories and parables, usually brought to draw parallels, teach a lesson, or to fill
in a description and picture of the scene taking place. The Genesis Rabbah, referred to here, is one of the oldest
compilations of midrashim: it consists of a “mixture of line-by-line commentary, parables, popular sayings, and
legal principles.” (see Rabbi Jill Jacobs, ​Midrash Rabbah)
47
Rashi on verse 18.
48
Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, 1902-1994, was the seventh and most recent leader of the
Chabad-Lubavitch dynasty, one of the largest and fastest-growing branches of Judaism. Chabad
emphasizes the study of Hassidic philosophy, attempting to bring the deeper kabbalistic side of the
Torah into a more accessible format. Chabad has almost 3,500 institutions across the world -- they are
also well-known for their presence on college campuses across the U.S. and the globe.
49
​Likutei Sichot,​ vol. 5, pg. 20
50
Aharon Rubin,​Eye to the Infinite,​ pg. 29
 28

seem an absolutely confounding and bewilderingly arrogant statement: for man is miniscule
compared to the universe and -- as I myself pointed out earlier -- has a very limited grasp on a true
understanding of nature. Nevertheless, we are told time and time again in Judaism that we are the
very purpose for everything coming to be: just like a parent prepares the best life for his child,
although the child is unaware of the world at large, we, too, are G-d’s children, in the process of
growth and of learning.

If we begin to wrap our head around this reality, we can begin to comprehend why G-d had
to split the first human into Adam and Eve: “I will therefore separate his female aspect from him,
rendering him incomplete without her [...]”.51 The purpose of creation was to cause man to grow --
if he was already complete, what growth would there be? By separating Adam into Adam and Eve,
G-d created a situation of dependency, of reflection and feedback -- this necessitated man to
develop the perception of himself outside himself, of having to internalize the unity of G-d through
the existence of a separate entity. From the perfect comfort and wholeness of total individuality,
man was now placed in a circumstance requiring sacrifice, of balancing giving and taking. This
mechanism was meant to cause us to grow and mature: it wasn’t long, however, before this
resulted in catastrophe. Together, Adam and Eve fell into the temptation of the forbidden fruit, thus
being expulsed from the garden.

Throughout the history of theology, the primordial ‘sin’ of Adam has been held as being
single-handedly responsible for the state of the collective spiritual exile of humanity, for all the
death, suffering, and catastrophe that came to haunt this race. We were forced to leave a state of
absolute abundance and revealed G-dliness -- Eden -- to toil and live in ignorance: “To the woman
He said, “I will greatly increase your difficulty [...] you will give birth to children in anguish [...] And
to man He said, [...] cursed be the ground for your sake; with toil you shall eat of it all the days of
your life.”52‘ At a surface level, it seems as if our Creator forsook us in His wrath, punishing us and
expelling us from the unbounded goodness of His presence. However, this poses several profound
philosophical questions regarding the Creator: if G-d is omnipotent and omnipresent, how did He
did not predict that this whole mess would happen as he created man and separated from him
woman? Secondly, if we firmly believe that G-d is infinitely good and kind, how could we say he set
into motion thousands of years of suffering as a mere act of punishment ? Punishment implies
some sort of retribution, some desire to cause suffering as a result of a certain action. If we are
claiming G-d to be source of all wisdom, to be above all created beings, how could we claim that
he is affected by the actions of man to such an extent to ​want​ to cause suffering? Rather, I think
that we must attempt to understand the expulsion from the garden from the eyes of G-d -- as best
we can. We must begin from the premise that G-d, like a parent, loves His offspring
unconditionally and desires only the best for them. If we try to internalize such a view, we can
begin to see the expulsion from the garden in a new light, as that of a necessary stage in bringing
about the purpose of creation: man’s flourishing and growth, and, consequently, the flourishing of
the world.

My proposition is that the expulsion of the garden, then, was part of a logical progression
that begun with the separation of man and woman. As explained above, when Adam was both

51
Chumash with interpolated., pg. 17.
52
Gen., 3:16 - 17.
 29

male and female, he was ​too​ complete, almost​ t​ oo perfect to partake of creation at all; the
separation was a means of granting space, of making the human being flawed in order to grant
him a ‘helper’ and a partner in growth. This, indeed, parallels the process of creation itself as
described by Kabballah: G-d, who is infinite and perfect, had to contract himself (in hebrew, the
term used is ​tzitmzum​) in order to form a space of seeming lack and concealment, thus allowing
for the possibility of creation. For, if G-d is flawless and endless, how could He have formed a
creation which is limited and flawed? In some sense, then, G-d had to separate the creation from
within himself, just like He separated Eve from Adam: we, then, can be seen as partners, as
helpers of G-d, aiding Him to bring about the ultimate purpose of all being.

My proposition is that this parallel can extend, too, to The Garden. Eden can be compared
to the primordial state of perfect completion before the contraction, before the separation of man
from woman; indeed, the word ‘eden’ itself in Hebrew is related to ‘sublime’ and ‘extremely
refined’.53 Thus, just like man in the garden was in a state of self-sufficiency similar to that before
the division of genders: so too, the exile from the garden parallels this separation of man and
woman. The separation, now, however,consists of man from His Creator, man from revealed truth.

Why, however, do we see the first stage, of the creation of the genders, as beautiful and
necessary for life as we know it -- while the second, we see as the “fall”, the sin? I think this is a
mistake: on the contrary, just like I posited above that man was separated from woman to allow for
the creation of a higher and more mature entity that is capable of managing lack and of creating
relationships -- so, too, the exile from the Garden was a necessary step in this development.
Indeed, there is a concept in Judaism, enunciated by Rabbi Simlai, one of the Talmudic Rabbis,
that while a baby is still in the womb, it “ [...] is taught all the torah, from beginning to end.”54 In the
primordial, embryonic stage, the baby is enveloped by the protective care of the mother, fed
through her; additionally, G-d shows the developing soul all of creation, its purpose, and how
everything fits together. Indeed, the rabbis claim that there are no happier days than these:
absolutely free from worry, the baby is sustained and maintained in perfect warmth, being shown
all the secrets that it could ever hope for. When the child is born, he is violently separated from his
mother, forgetting everything he was told. Indeed, there are still the sweet and naive years of
youth: but as the child grows, he must enter into the reality of a world of ignorance, of strife and
separation, where G-d’s presence and all His secrets are concealed. And yet, although we
recognize the ideal nature of childhood, we understand that a child must grow, that he must learn
to navigate the realities of this world in order to make something out of him or herself. One’s life,
then, becomes a journey of remembering, of self-discovery in order to return to that state and
place of perfect knowingness, perfect comfort and unity with Source. The parallel to the garden
and the separation of man from woman is astoundingly clear: before, man was in a primordial
womb-like stage -- since the expulsion of the garden, history has been the process of humanity’s
maturing and growth into a new and wider reality. Now, we approach the point where all of us must
unite and face Source again. Mystically, this is the process of all creation: stasis, separation,
growth, unification.

53
​Torat Moshe​, Rabbi Moshe Aschlich
54
Talmud, Nidda 30b.
 30

Although there is an undying, firm, belief in Judaism that these events described in
Genesis did in fact take place, we begin to see here the tenuous line between historicity,
symbology, and metaphor in the Torah. The separation of Adam and Eve and the exile from the
Garden was a primordial stage in creation: these were not merely events unto themselves -- rather
they are templates, narrative structures that come to shape the entirety of being to come. These
are like the early stages of the Big Bang - everything that followed was already contained in the
dense heat and extreme energy of the initial burst: what occured in these first moments of creation
would come to affect all of history. Thus we see that just like an individual must go through the
process of separation in birth, so too the entirety of creation underwent a similar process. Here we
begin to glimpse one of the deepest concepts in the torah: that man is a universe unto himself. The
purpose of each individual’s life is intrinsically linked to that of the entirety of creation.

Inherently, if we all take a moment to contemplate it, we all understand the process
described above. We all have a place of internal and perfect comfort, an innate perception of how
things should be, of how the world should work. Everyone has their garden, their womb-like place
of being -- one which, consciously or unconsciously, we are constantly seeking and longing for.
Yet, the world around us is dissonant with this internality: we are forced to deal with all types of
distorted financial, economic, and social systems, having to toil to make a living. Even if one will
say that, materially, humanity has greatly progressed, the psycho-social state of the West has
proven that this does not suffice. Even if we live in a comfortable situation, we must nonetheless
face our own fears, our own shortcomings, our lacks, our necessity to sacrifice and compromise.
Indeed, modernity is steeped in anxiety and it is because we have not gotten to the source of what
progress and development truly means. Nothing in our modern world comes to feed this most
primordial need of our soul: to find meaning, to seek out Source. Our response, instead, has been
to numb and deadened the soul: distraction after distraction, a proliferation of media and
entertainment filled with lies, empty of all content, serving only to pull us into a perpetual cycle of
mind nullifying activity. The turmoil of the past years, however, has proven this approach
ineffective and harmful: that this lack cannot be covered over. Indeed, our prophets predicted such
a time: “Behold, days are coming, says the Lord G-d, and I will send a famine into land, not a
famine for bread nor a thirst for water, but to hear the word of G-d.”55

This is not to deride all of modernity’s advancements -- for indeed, humanity as a whole
has come a long way. Nonetheless, our recent times force us to make a scathing critique of where
we are and we were headed as a collective. A singular virus has been capable of stopping all
systems in their tracks, showing the futility and vanity of all our pursuits, gone in a second, like
dust. Stock markets, economies, political governance: all edifices once thought to be untouchable
now crumbling in a matter of weeks. G-d is forcing us to sit at home, our physical isolation and
distance reflecting our spiritual apathy towards one another and our distance from truth.

We see from the Garden and throughout the history of humankind that G-d has given us
ample opportunity for growth: our falls, our lacks, our anxieties, have been an impetus to improve,
to impel us to seek and discover the source and root of our being in this world. Indeed, there is a

55
Amos, 8:11
 31

sefardic56 custom to say a brief statement of intent before praying each of the three daily prayers: it
can be roughly translated as follows “[...] and may we amend what needs to be amended in its
supernal source [...]”.57 We see here that the purpose and aim of prayer and Torah study is to
move upwards and inwards, to permanently change and grow: not just to nullify and cover over
what needs to be amended. For indeed, this has been the attitude of humanity for way too long,
choosing comfort and complacency while turning a blind eye to the root of our individual and
collective issues. Indeed, although there have been a great deal of movements striving for change
and people truly yearning to make an impact on the world, they have too often focused only on the
external, creating scapegoats out of any number of institutions and groups of people. The Torah,
however, teaches us that change can only begin within the confines of one’s own life, own’s one
relationships: this is the beginning of the secret of ‘a man being a universe unto himself’. G-d gives
each of us our own arena, our own exact challenges, exact deficiencies, exact circumstances and
people which we need to deal with. The Torah is a promise that if one focuses on these, that if one
chooses to accept everything as a chance for growth, then the universe will shift for us: this is the
blessing G-d gives Abram, the first forefather of the Jewish people, “God said to Abram, ‘go away
from your land, your birthplace, your father’s home to the land that I will show you. I will make you
into a great nation. I will bless you; I will make your name great; and you will become a blessing.”58
The parallels draw themselves: our land, our birthplace, is a parallel to the garden -- our
womb-like, immature, state of being. If we go forth from here to face the world, then we will be
blessed and shown the land - Israel, a metaphor for a perfected state of consciousness and being,
where we all recognize divinity and live in peace. The Lubavitcher Rebbe makes it clear as he
comments on the verse, “This instruction to Abram is also an instruction for every individual: ‘go to
you’ - return and connect to the real you, to your essence and spiritual root”59.

If we can all undertake this individual journey collectively then we are no longer dependant
on any number of overreaching systems of power, finance, oppression. Rather, we are free to
create our lives and build the best society possible, one based on the importance of living in the
moment, of sharing and appreciating what one has been given and what one has. For when one
gets in touch with one’s true root then one comes to see, live, and feel, the presence of G-d, of
perfect peace and kindness: “The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not lack”.60 This is the higher
unification, the one that comes after the initial and primordial separation: we come to see the
garden through our own eyes, through the lens of our own experience. With this the shackles fall in

56
Judaism has traditionally divided itself into two major ethnic branches: ashkenazi and sephardi. This
split came early on in Jewish history, as Jews left Israel and travelled into Europe. The ashkenazi
settled in Eastern Europe, populating countries such as Poland, Ukraine, Russia, and Lithuania. During
WWII, and even before, many of these jews emigrated to the Americas; the asheknazim are the figure
most usually associated with Judaism in the West. Sephardim, however, settled in Northern Africa,
Spain, and Portugal, before being expelled and having to move all around the Mediterranean area and
back to Israel. Their customs, both in food, wear, and even pronunciation are much more Mediterranan.
Nevertheless, both branches differ only in customs: all however observe the Torah and uphold it’s Oral
Tradition. Indeed, today in the land of Israel many of them live together and pray in the same
synagogues.
57
Weekday & Shabbat Sephardic Siddur, Ghermezian Edition
58
Bereishis, 12:1-2.
59
Likutei Sichot, vol. 2, pg. 659
60
Psalm 23:1
 32

an instant, like dust -- and we come to realize that everything in the world has come for this, for us
to finally face ourselves and the barren ground we live in.

Torah helps us open our eyes to perceive the miraculous gift of life and nature on this
earth: no day should go unused, no challenge unreckoned with. We stand at a crucial place in
history and more than ever, we have been given an opportunity to start again, to redirect our
compasses and to get in touch with our real source and purpose. This is a collective reckoning, a
time unlike any other. We have been given all the tools -- all that is left is for us to sow the land
and plant our garden.

“Our soul waits for the Lord; he is our help and our shield.

For our heart shall rejoice in him, because we have trusted in his holy name.

Let your loving kindness, O Lord, be upon us, even as we hope in you.” Psalm 33

61
 

​Man Made in the Image of God, illustration from a Bible card published 1906 by the Providence Lithograph
61

Company.
 33

Afternote;

Thank you for following me through this initial experimental edition of what I
hope to be an ever-flourishing and growing project. Like I mentioned above, I am still unsure
what the format of this thing will take: even this paper is not in its final edition, as i also
mentioned. I am unsure if I will continue chronologically through the Torah or if I will write
different things depending on the times, reader interest, what I am currently studying, the
blowings of the winds. In the end, I think it will be a mixture of all these things: my singular
desire is to share and compile as much content as possible. Hopefully, at some point in the
future, my dream would be to include contributions from others, in any and all formats, be it art,
poetry, etc. Here, at the end, I will include a short miscellaneous section in which I hope to
share some more free-flowing bits and pieces of stuff I’ve compiled throughout the years.  

 
 
 34

 
to dream a dream 
to be, to be; 
to float down that  
mysterious stream 
of things unsaid, 
things unseen. 
 ​
here, the apples grow clean 
straight from the tree, 
the fish swim up the  
gorging ravines; 
the beasts eat the grass, 
the grass eats the bees, 
the bees lay the eggs, 
the eggs lay the seeds. 
 
nothing shows what it means, 
nothing means what it shows; 
it all comes for the ride,  
for the rhyme, for the flow. 
 ​
to dream a dream 
to let go, to be shown;  
life is but a speck of dust that, into the wind, 
someone else has long ago blown. 
 
 
 

I know it’s a lot of words … but when one taps into truth, it’s hard to stop writing…….

Contact info:

Alan Garcia-Ramos Hochman

Hebrew name: ‫ אילן יצחק‬- Ilan Yitzhak

Ohr Somayach, Jerusalem

alan_garcia-ramos@brown.edu
 35

Bibliography:

Assaf, David. "Hasidism: Historical Overview." YIVO Encyclopedia of Jews in Eastern Europe 27 October 2010. 1

April 2020 <https://yivoencyclopedia.org/article.aspx/Hasidism/Historical_Overview>.

David Servais, Roger. ​Hasidic jewish art 1​ , 60 cm x 50 cm, gouache on paper, 1991.

Freeman, Tzvi. “What Is Time? - An Elucidation of the Lubavitcher Rebbe's Comments on the Topic.”

Chabad.org​, 23 Mar. 2003, ​www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/74335/jewish/What-Is-Time.htm​.

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