Modern day science looks at the externality of this world
and explains how it works. However, it doesn't answer why the world is as it is.
Being aware of the spiritual makeup of the world means becoming aware of the
glory of the Creator as reflected in His works and this enables us to draw down
blessing from within the worlds of Atzilut and Beriya.
Binding to the tree of the sefirot through Torah
and mitzvot connects one to the sefira of tiferet, which
gathers into itself the abundance from all of the sefirot of Atzilut.
When connected properly by the People of Israel through the yesod of
Atzilut, they bring spiritual light and life-giving sustenance to all the
lower worlds of Beriya, Yetzira and Asiya.
Kabbala considers chesed and love the male side of reality, and gevura and fear/awe, the female side. In a general way, this accords with male-female approaches to life the world, i.e. that the male is the more abstract emphasis, while the female is the more concrete. In order to concretize the reality of divinity in this world, the female must evince great strength and power so as not to be overcome by the distracting forces of evil. She derives this power, of course, from the inspiration she takes from the male. In this context, the male is the giver and she is the recipient. On this week's Torah reading, the Ari teaches that the overall tribe of Levi is the source of the five states of gevura, known as the "crown of gevura", the feminine portion, from which the main female partzuf, the Nukva of Zeir Anpin.
"Every man shall encamp by his own standard, with the sign of their fathers house."
Rashi comments that each standard was to have a colored cloth hanging in it, the color corresponding to that of the stone in the breastplate of the High Priest on which the name of that tribe was engraved. Rabbi Abraham ibn Ezra comments that the four signs on the four main standards were similar to the four figures that the prophet Ezekiel saw in the Divine Chariot.
The Tabernacle was in the center, with the camps of the Levites surrounding it, in the midst of the camps of the other tribes. The Midrash says just as G-d created four directions in the universe, so He surrounded His Throne with four "living creatures", and above them all, the Throne of Glory.
The verse mandating the nation's census says lit.: "Raise the heads of the Jewish people to their skulls..." The properties of the physical body mirror those of the soul, the physical head paralleling the spiritual head, the "head" of the soul. A skull surrounds the physical head, or brain. The soul's "skull" is "Ratzon" - desire; the desire of the soul "surrounds," i.e. transcends, the intellectual aspect of the soul.
G-d commands Moses to take the soul's lower desire - born of the soul's head and brain, and clothed in human consciousness - and elevate it to its source and root: the soul's essence which hovers above, transcendent, a level at which the essence of G-d is fully revealed.
The Levites were divided into three clans, each assigned the job of erecting, dismantling, and transporting the different components of the Tabernacle. These three divisions reflect the spiritual components of the Tabernacle we construct for G-d within the context of our own lives.
The rigid walls and pillars provide the Tabernacle and its courtyard their form; our selfless devotion to G-d's will is the rigid foundation of our spiritual Tabernacle. The fluid curtains and veils of the Tabernacle and its courtyard are the pliant flesh covering; the flesh of our spiritual Tabernacle is our emotional involvement with G-d.
The Tabernacle's furnishings are the instruments used for the specific activities for which the Tabernacle serves as a setting. The central feature of this component of the Tabernacle was the ark, housing the Tablets of the Covenant, the quintessence of the Torah, our guide for transforming both ourselves and reality.
According to Jewish custom, this reading is always read publicly on the Shabbat before Shavuot and, therefore, by divine plan constitutes a preparation for the holiday. However, the connection between the two is not necessarily obvious. "Bamidbar" means "in the desert", a barren uninhabitable place. The mountain, in this case, is Sinai which is a homonym of the Hebrew word for "hate", "sina". How are "hate" and "desert" necessary components for preparing to receive the Torah?
A desert is barren of anything, of any distraction. A person who does not make him or herself like a "desert" is not a vessel for the Torah. Yet a Jew must also have the element of "sina", hatred, when learning Torah; whilst learning Torah, it is not enough to bar distraction - one must actually hate anything outside of the Torah world.
The man continued to cry uncontrollably, and never uttered a word in response…
A person living in this world, occupied as he is with his physical needs and desires, is prevented from hearing divine announcements. But the essence of the soul above "sees and hears" the divine announcements, and responds to them with the proper seriousness. As a result of the complete arousal of the essence of his soul, a person experiences thoughts of repentance within the reflection of the soul clothed in his body. A person may experience a sudden arousal to repentance without any prior preparation, for the arousal stems from the divine announcement above.
Shabbat Shalom.
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