Christian Kabbalah

 From: cms@dragon.com (Spawn of a Jewish Carpenter (Cindy Smith))

Newsgroups: alt.messianic

Subject: Re:  Christian Kabbalah

Message-ID: <1992Dec19.173417.994@dragon.com>

Date: 19 Dec 92 17:34:16 EST

Organization: Computer Projects Unlimited

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 I wrote the following essay for a Jewish Mysticism class at Emory 

University in Atlanta.  My professor, Dr. David Blumenthal, encouraged 

me to research and write about the Christian application of the 

Kabbalah.  Unfortunatly, I didn't have a chance to write about the 

Spanich mystics Saint Theresa of Avila and Saint John of the Cross, 

both of whom were very interested in the Zohar.  I hope you enjoy the 

essay.

Cindy Smith

Jewish Mysticism

                 Brightness falls from the air;

                 Queens have died, young and fair;

                 Lord have mercy upon us.

                               --- Thomas Nashe

                    The Christian Cabala

Introduction

 The errors made by the early Christian Cabalists almost drove me

to despair.  I'm not sure how to write this essay.  Should I

expositate on Pico's understanding of the Cabala, for example, or

should I point out his numerous errors?  Should I then give,

based on my own knowledge of Cabala, a better interpretation?  I

will begin this essay with Giovanni Pico della Mirandola.

 Pico regarded himself as the first Christian ever to expositate

on the Kabbalah.  This is not true, but this is what he believed. 

Pico studied Hebrew for the sole purpose of studying Kabbalah. 

However, he relied of necessity on translations which often

contained erroneous material, and the actual Kabbalistic texts,

including portions of the Zohar, which did come into his

possession were few and limited in scope.  Nevertheless, he wrote

the Heptaplus, which I look at in this essay, nine hundred theses

called the Conclusiones, of which we'll examine a few, and his

"Oration on the Dignity of Man."

 In Pico's "Exposition of the First Expression, Namely, 'In the

Beginning,'" he says:

     I should like to explain the first expression of the work,

which by the Hebrews is read 'Bereshit' and by us 'In the

beginning,' to see if I also, using the rules of the ancients,

could draw out into the light thence something worthy to know. 

And beyond my hope, beyond my conjecture, I found what not even

I, finding it, could believe, nor what others could easily

believe -- the whole arrangement of the creation of the world and

of all things revealed and explained in that one expression.

     I do say a marvelous, unheard of, and unbelievable thing. 

But if you will pay attention, you will believe it at once, and

the very thing will prove me right.  That expression by the

Hebrews is written in this manner:      , that is, Berescith. 

From this if we unite the third letter to the first, it becomes   

  , that is, AB.  If to the first one doubled, we add the second

one, it becomes    , that is, BEBAR.  If we read all of them

except the first, it becomes      , that is, RESIT.  If we unite

the fourth and the first and the last, it becomes    , that is,

SCIABAT.  If we put the first three in the order in which they

are, it becomes    , that is BAR.  If with the first omitted, we

put down the three following ones, it becomes     , that is,

ROSC.  If leaving out the first and the second ones, we put the

two following ones, we have   , that is, ES.  If we leave off the

first three ones, we put together the fourth and the last one, we

have   , that is, SETH.  Again if we unite the second to the

first one, we have   , that is, RAB; if we put after the third,

the fourth and the the fifth ones, we have    , that is, HISC; if

we unite the first two with the last two, we have     , that is,

REBITH.  If we unite the last to the first, we obtain the twelfth

and the last word,  , that is, THOB, turning the THAU into the

letter THETH, which is a very common proceeding in Hebrew.

     Let us see what these words mean in Latin, then what may be

revealed about the mystery of the whole nature to those not in 

ignorance of philosphy.  AB means the father; BEBAR means in the

son and through the son (in fact, the prefix BETH means both);

RESIT indicates the beginning; SABATH the rest and the end; BAR,

created; ROSC, head; ES fire; SETH, foundation; RAB, of the

great; HISC, of the man; BERIT, with an agreement; THOB, with

goodness.

     If, following this order, we rebuild the expression, it will

be like this:  "The Father, in the Son and through the Son, the

beginning and end, or rest, created the head, the fire, and the

foundation of the great man with a good agreement."  This entire

discourse results from the taking apart and the putting together

of that first expression.  It cannot be clear to all how deep and

full of all meaning this teaching is.  But, if not all, at least

some of the ideas are signified to us by these words that are

clear to all.  By all Christians it is known what is meant by the

saying "the Father created in the Son and through the Son," and

likewise what is meant by "The Son is the beginning and the end

of all things."  In fact, He is the Alpha and Omega (as John

writes), and He called Himself the Beginning, and we have shown

that He is the End of all things in which they may be brought

back to their beginning.

     The rest is a little more osbscure:  namely, what do the

head, the fire, and the foundation of the great man mean, and

what is the "agreement," and why is it called "good"?  In fact,

not everyone can see present here every law of the four worlds of

which I spoke, the whole plan, their relationship, and, likewise,

their happiness, about which I explained at the end.  First then,

we must remember that the world was called by Moses, "great man." 

In fact, if man is a small world, necessarily the world is a

great man.  Hence with the opportunity seized, he pictures, very

appropriately, the three worlds, the intellectual, the heavenly,

and the corruptible ones, through the three parts of man, not

only showing with this figure that in man are contained all the

worlds, but also explaining briefly which part of man corresponds

to each world.

     Let us consider then the three parts of man:  the higher is

the head; then that which from the neck stretches to the navel;

the third, that which extends from the navel to the feet.  And

these parts in the figure of man are also well defined and

separated with a certain variety.  But it is astonishing how

beautifully and how perfectly they correspond by a very precise

plan, by anlogy, to the three parts of the world.

     The brain, source of knowledge, is in the head; the heart,

source of movement, life, and heat, is in the chest; the genital

organs, the beginning of reproduction, are located in the lowest

part.  By the same token, in the world the highest part, which is

the angelic or intellectual world, is the source of knowledge

because such is nature is made for the understanding; the middle

part, that is the sky, is the beginning of life, of movement,

heat, and is controlled by the sun as the heart in the chest.  It

is known to all that below the moon is the beginning of creation

and corruption.  See how appropriately all these parts of the

world and of man correspond reciprocally.  Indeed, he designated

the first one with its appropriate name, the head; he called the

second one fire, because by this name the heavens are valued by

man, and because in us this part is the principle of heat.  He

called the third one foundation because by it (as is known by

all) is founded and sustained the whole body of man.  He added

finally that God created them with a good agreement because

between them, through the law of divine wisdom, an agreement of

peace and friendship was decreed on the kinship and on the mutual

agreement of their natures.  This agreement is good because it is

thus arranged and set in order toward God, Who is goodness

itself, so that, just as the whole world is one in the totality

of its parts, so also like this, at the end, it is one with its

Maker.

     Let us also imitate the holy agreement of the world, so that

we may be one together in mutual love, and that simultaneously

through the true love of God, we may all happily ascend as one

with Him.

END QUOTE

 Pico appears to be referring to the Adam Kadmon, dividing the

parts of the body into three, that is, the upper three sefirot,

the middle three, and the lower three, with the bottom, Malkhut,

comprising all of the above.  He begins with the head, Keter,

describing it as the source of Hokhmah.  This is followed by the

heart (Tiferet) and the genital organs (Yesod).  The other

sefirot are attached to these three.  He then says that Keter is

the source of Hokhma because such nature is made for Bina. 

Tiferet is the beginning of life, and Yesod founded and sustained

the whole body of man (the sefirotic system).  Finally, from

Binah an agreement of peace and friendship was decreed on the

kinship and on the mutual agreement of their natures.  This

agreement is good because it is thus arranged in order toward     

En-Sof, Who is goodness itself, so that just as the entire

sefirotic system is one in the totality of its parts, so also

like this, at then end, it is one with En-Sof.

 Pico is trying to combine the Zoharic divine emanation theory

with Adam Kadmon.  He begins with a bizarre rendition of the word

Bereshith as proof of the Trinity.  Since Keter is the Father,

Hokhma the Son, and Bina the Holy Spirit, we may reread his

statement thus:  Keter, in Hokhma and through Hokhma, the En-Sof

and En-Sof, or Shabbat (Malkhut), created (probably means emanated 

here) Keter, Tiferet, and Yesod, the bases or trunks of the whole 

sefirotic tree, in mutual cooperation.  Did the sefirot exist inside 

En-Sof before their emanation from En-Sof, or did the sefirot come 

into existence only after their emanation from En-Sof?

 Pico quotes John the Divine, noting that the Son is the Alpha and the 

Omega, the beginning and the end.  This means that Christ is the

manifestation of En-Sof in visible form.  In the days of the

Messiah, according to the Zohar, all the sefirot will roll back

up into En-Sof.  Since we live in the days of the Messiah, we can

conclude that this event has indeed taken place, and that En-Sof

has given birth once again to the sefirot, making the whole

creation new.

 What Pico himself specifically means by his text, we'd have to

ask Pico to explain.  However, based upon my own knowledge of the

Zohar, this appears to be what he's trying to say.  At any rate,

this is my interpretation of his interpretation.

 In order to determine precisely who Pico believes Jesus to be,

we must turn to his seventh Kabbalistic thesis "secundum

opinionem propriate."  Pico says:

     Conclusio xiv:  Per litteram   id est scin quae mediat in

nomine Iesu significatur nobis cabalistice quod tum perfecte

quieut tanquam in sua perfectione mundus cum Iod coniunctus est

cum Vau, quod factum est in Christ qui fuit uerus dei filius et

homo.

     Conclusio xv:  Per nomen Iod he uau he, quod est nomen

ineffabile, quod dicunt Cabalistae futurum esse nomen Messiae,

euidenter cognoscitur futurum eum Deum Dei filium per spiritum

sanctum hominem factum, et post eum ad perfectionem humani

generis super homines parclytum descensurum.

 The name of the Messiah is Yahweh (YHVH), while the name of

Jesus is Yesu (YSW).  The importance of the letter shin becomes

even more important with Pico's disciple, Johannes Reuchlin, who

created from the Tetragrammaton (YHVH) the Pentagrammaton

(YHSVH).  Reuchlin was familiar with the Jewish belief that the

letter shin was missing from a proper understanding of the Torah;

the coming of shin, Reuchlin argued, made the unpronounceable

name Yahweh pronounceable and salvation came to eretz Yisrael. 

Reuchlin wrote, "When the Tetragrammaton shall become audible,

that is effable...it will be called by the consonant which is

called shin, so that it might become YHSVH, which will be above

you, your head and your master."  He also noticed that the letter

shin is shaped like a lamp, giving off divine light and fire.  As

John the Baptist says, "He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit

and with Fire."  This also coincides with the common New

Testament image that Jesus is the Light of the World who gives

his light, like one candle to another, to his disciples, who then

become a light to their fellow Jews as well as the Gentiles.  The 

Sefer Yetzirah says that shin represents fire.  En-Sof is fire and the 

source of light.  Jesus is the source of light.  The shin, therefore, 

symbolizes the Incarnation.

 A scribe asked Jesus what was the greatest of all the Commandments. 

Jesus replied, "Shema Yisrael, Adonai Elohenu, Adonai Echad" 

(Mark 12:29).  The first word, shema, is spelled shin, mem, ayin.  The 

shin and mem, according to the Sefer Yetzirah, are among the three 

"mother letters."  Shin is fire, mem is water.  The Shema, from 

ancient times, therefore presages baptism by fire and water.  Shin is 

chaos, mem is harmony; this is being baptized by En-Sof and Malkhut -- 

En-Sof the source of emanation, Malkhut the mouth of the rivers of 

light.  In baptism, therefore, we are touched and drenched by fire and 

water -- the living Presence of God.  The ayin, according to the 

Zohar, has a numerical value of seventy.  Thus did Jesus send out 

seventy apostles to preach the Kingdom of God (Luke 10:1).  In the 

fire are the colors white, yellow, red, black, and sky-blue.  These 

are colors of sefirot; sky-blue is the color of Malkhut.  Is it any 

wonder that the color most often associated with the Virgin Mary is 

blue?  When the womb of Malkhut touched the womb of Mary, Mary became 

blue.  She burned with the fires of the sefirot.  Hokhma and Bina 

engaged in sexual intercourse and gave birth to Tiferet inside 

Malkhut-Mary, who then gave birth to the Messiah En-Sof.

Conclusion lxvii:  

Per dictum Cabalistarum, quod coeli sunt ex igne

et aqua, simul et ueritatem theologicam de ipsis Sephirot 

nobis manifestat, et philosophicam ueritatem, quot elementa

in coelo sint tantum secundum actiuam uirtutem.

 Shamayim (Heaven) consists of fire and water.  Fire (Gevurah) and 

water (Chesed) are united in Heaven (Tiferet).  A father brought his 

son to Jesus (Matthew 9:17).  The father explained that a mute spirit 

frequently threw his son into gevurah and chesed, back and forth, to 

kill him (9:22).  Jesus commanded the unclean spirit to come out of 

the boy.  In doing so, gevurah and chesed flowed naturally into 

tiferet.  The forces of sitra achra were attempting to upset the 

balance of the sefirotic system.  Jesus, the Balance, Tiferet Himself, 

set things aright.  Jesus then explained to his talmidim that mute 

spirits of this kind can only be driven out through prayer with proper 

kavvanah.

 The Liber de Radicibus seu Terminis Cabalae, fol. 261r says:

shamayim sine he idest celi indicat Tiphereth cum he vero

quandoque indicat Intelligentiam, quandoque ipsam Tiphereth

et significat hassamaim ly celi.

Tiferet is YHWH.  Pico says in secundum secretam doctrinam sapientam 

Hebraeorum Cabalistarum:  

Quamuis nomen ineffabile sit proprietas clementiae, negandum

tamen non est quin contineat proprietatem iudicii.

Judgment and Mercy, therefore, dwell within Jesus who is Heaven.  In 

Mark 12:26, Jesus quotes the bush passage in the Torah, "I am the God 

of Chesed, the God of Gevurah, and the God of Tiferet."  God is not 

God of sitra achra, but God of the sefirot.  In Matthew 10:8, 

"Tiferet's Malkhut is here."  This means that Heaven has arrived on 

earth and the Kingdom is with him (i.e., Tiferet has arrived on Earth 

and Shekhinah is with him).  In Matthew 12:25, Jesus notes that 

the sefirot cannot be divided or Malkhut will not continue to be.  

But, Jesus notes, if he drives out the forces of sitra achra by Bina 

(the World to Come, the River that waters Eden), then "Malkhut has 

come to dwell among you."  Intimating that Malkhut has no light of her 

own, but is only illumined by the other sefirot, Jesus said in reply 

to the Pharisees in Luke 17:20-21:  "The coming of Malkhut cannot be 

observed, and no one will announce, 'Look, here she is,' or 'There she 

is.'  For behold, Malkhut is in your midst."  Malkhut and all the 

sefirot are mirrors of light that cannot be seen without the divine 

light of all the sefirot.

 In his twenty-first Conclusion, Pico asserts:

Qui coniunxerit dictum Cabalistarum, dicentium quod illa 

numeratio quae dicitur iustus et redemptor dicitur etiam Ze,

cum dicto Thalmutistarum, dicentium quod Isaac ibat sicut ze

portans Crucem suam, uidebit quod illud quod fuit in Isaac

praefiguratum fuit adimpletum in Christo, qui fuit verus Deus

uenditus argento.

Christian Cabalists interpreted the ze as referring to the ninth 

sefirah (Iustus or Fundamentum).  They simultaneously interpreted the 

ze mystically as prefiguring Christ.  In Gicatilla's Portae Iustitiae, 

he attempts to guide people to God through the sefirot.  Jacob, he 

argued, knew which gate to enter, and with this essential knowledge 

revealed that man must enter the Gate Ze in order to begin his ascent 

to God.  Symbolically, this means that for man to ascend to God, he 

must enter through Christ to Christ.  According to Flavius 

Mithridates, Pico's translator, in his Sermo de Passione Domini, Ze 

was both the ninth sefirah and Jesus of Nazareth.

 Pico got into the most trouble when he said that "nulla est scientia 

quae nos magis certificet de divinitate Christi quam magia et cabala." 

The reason this statement was condemned is clearly because magic and 

cabala are placed above the Gospels and the Tradition of the Church in 

importance and claims to be a source of divine inspiration in its own 

right.  Divine inspiration belongs to the Tradition of the Church 

alone, and not to any tradition outside the Church.  It's basically 

the same reason Anne Hutchinson was condemned by a Protestant council 

in the early Americas.  It is claiming an authority that is seen as an 

attempt to wrest authority from the established authority, the Church. 

Pico, I think, meant by his statement, like Hutchinson centuries after 

him, that his personal experience with the divine light guided him 

toward knowledge of God that confirmed his previous experiences with 

Christ.

 It is important to note at this point that Pico made a discovery in 

the course of his studies that I have only recently made in the course 

of my studies as well -- that is, that there are two types of Kabbalah 

whose sources were available to him and these were the science of names 

and the science of sefirot.  In the first quoted passage above, Pico 

is dealing with name science, whereas later he deals with sefirotic 

science.  Most of the primary texts Pico had in his possession dealt 

with sefirotic science, although name science, used magically and 

theurgically, was far older than the Zohar.  Abraham Abulafia was 

keenly interested in the distinction between the two sciences.  It is 

not clear, however, that Pico was at first aware of the distinction.  

In Pico's second thesis, he combines merkavah and the art of combining 

letters.  In his thirty-seventh thesis, he says:

Qui intellexerit in dextrali coordinatione subordinationem

pietatis ad sapientiam, perfecte intelliget per uiam Cabalae 

quomodo Abraam in die suo per rectam lineam uidit diem Christi

et gauisus est.

For Pico, pietas is Chesed and is below Hokhma.  His tree in Latin:

                            Corona

                  Intelligentia       Sapientia

          [Potentia] Iudicium       Pietas [Magnitudo]

                            Gloria

                      Decor         Eternitas

                          Fundamentum

                            Regnum

 Pico associated, rightly, the fourth sefirah with Abraham (Chesed) 

and is Abraham's Day.  The Day of the Mashiach  (yomo shel mashiah) 

comes from an interpretation of John 8:56, "Abraham your father 

rejoiced to see my Day; he saw it and was glad."  For Pico, the 

organization of the sefirotic system is triadic.  Hence, Piety is 

below Wisdom as one goes down the right side of the tree.  Thus, 

Abraham looked up the tree in a direct line and saw the Day of Christ, 

which is Hokhma.  Hokhma emanated from Keter; Chesed came from Hokhma 

and Bina.  This is the meaning of the succeeding text in which Jesus 

says to the Jews, "Amen, amen, I say to you, before Abraham came to 

be, I AM (YHVH)" (John 8:58).  The tetragrammaton is associated with 

Tiferet, yet Chesed (Abraham) looks up and sees that Hokhma came 

before.  In this way, Pico confirms that Hokhma is Tiferet.  This is a 

little like Carroll's conclusion that "the boojum was a beejum, you 

see."  

In "De Arte Cabalistica," Johanne Reuchlin associates Adam 

Kadmon with Tiferet:  "[the Kabbalists] thought that the Beauty of the 

physical world should be placed in the middle of the tree by which the 

ten sephiroth are numbered, being that great Adam who is like the tree 

of life in the midst of an ideal paradise, or as they say, like the 

straight line, the median" (Reuchlin, 47).  Reuchlin says man is given 

the qualities of Netzah and Hod to remind him that he is both part of 

the emanations and of this worldly kingdom.  In translation, this 

means that, though the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, the 

Kingdom (Malkhut) of Tiferet was still in the Upper World.  "But 

through the fear of God, and the hallowing of him, by the fear 

[pahad/gevura/din] and loving-kindness [Chesed] spread out over him, 

man can apprehend God in His simplicity through these three methods:  

Crown [Keter], Wisdom [Hokhma], and Understanding [Bina].  That is to 

say, we can know God in His simplicity through knowing the Father, 

Son, and Holy Spirit.  Christ is the Form World Adam become flesh.  

All other human beings before Christ were imperfect reflections of 

Adam Kadmon.  Christ, on the other hand, is an exact and perfect 

reflection, indeed, Christ is Adam Kadmon, come down from the 

Upper World.

It is important to note that Simon the Jew is speaking in this 

conversational treatise by Reuchlin.  It is obvious that Simon the Jew 

is the mouthpiece for Reuchlin himself, spouting forth Christian 

interpretations of Kabbalah, while Simon scratches his head and 

confesses that none of it makes sense to him yet -- but it makes 

perfect sense to the knowledgeable Christian reader!

Simon the Jew says that sense, judgement, and intellect 

correspond to the three fathers of Kabbalah in Merkavah:  Abraham, 

Isaac, and Jacob (Chesed, Gevurah, Tiferet).  "The two intervals 

between the three regions, sense and judgment, are doubled accordingly 

as they are higher or lower, and each can be reduced to two end 

points.  There remain to be found the ten rungs of the ladder on which 

we climb to know all truth, be it of the senses or of knowledge, or of 

faith; from bottom to top we climb" (Reuchlin, 51).  Clearly, he is 

saying we must climb the sefirot to reach En-Sof.  He also appears to 

referring to Christ as Jacob's Ladder, as in John 1:51, where Jesus 

says, "Amen, amen, I say to you, you will see the sky opened and the 

angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man."  Reuchlin 

then goes on to explain the nature of the ten sephirot, their 

relationships, and how the mind of man is the Crown and is alone 

divine.  He then has Simon make a veiled reference to Christ:  "Just 

as God wears a Crown in the kingdom of the world, so is the mind of 

man chief among the ten sephiroth..."  Jesus, who is God, wears the 

Crown of Thorns (Keter) in this world, and the mind of Christ is chief 

among the sephirot.

Reuchlin then goes on to describe the Fall of Man and the 

promised salvation to come by describing a "future" man who would be 

righteous enough to eat of the Tree of Life and restore man's 

relationship with God.  Obviously, Reuchlin's mouthpiece Simon is 

making veiled references to Jesus, whom he describes as "that heavenly 

Adam coeternal with God" (73).

So the angel Raziel was sent to Adam as he lay grief-stricken,

to console him, and the angel said:

Don't lie shuddering, burdened with grief, thinking of your

responsibility for bringing the race of man to perdition.  The

primal sin will be purged in this way:  from your seed will be

born a just man, a man of peace, a hero whose name will in 

pity contain these four letters -- YHWH -- and through his

upright trustfulness and peaceable sacrifice will put out his

hand, and take from the Tree of Life, and the fruit of that 

Tree will be salvation to all who hope for it.

 The name Yeshua, which does mean "Yah[weh] is our Salvation" or 

"Saving Justice," is interpreted as having a power that will enable 

him to eat from Shekhinah, the Tree of Life, in whom is contained all 

the sefirot, and the fruit (sefirot) of that Tree will be salvation 

for all people.  Reuchlin here seems to assume that Jews have an 

understanding of original sin that is actually not a Jewish belief.  

At any rate, when Christians consume the Body and Blood of Jesus, they 

are consuming the Fruit (sefirot) of the Tree of Life (Malkhut).  Adam 

is then thankful for the sefirah Tiferet (Mercy).  This notion of 

salvation, Simon says on the same page, "encapsulates all the 

principles of Kabbalah, all the traditions concerning the divine, 

knowledge of heaven, visions of the prophets, and meditations of the 

blessed."

 The next several sections of Reuchlin's first book is comprised of a 

series of Old Testament references to almost-saviors.  Eve thinks she 

will give birth to the Savior, but bears Cain instead, and then Abel.  

Abel is depicted as an almost-savior who greatly desires to be killed 

by Wood (Cain's club).  But this gift wasn't enough to redeem mankind. 

Even so, says Simon, one day a willing victim will come who will 

redeem mankind.  This is an obvious reference to the Crucifixion of 

Christ on the hard Wood of the Cross.  Reuchlin describes Abel as 

completely righteous, but fails to explain adequately why the 

sacrifice of Abel wasn't enough to redeem mankind.

 At any rate, page 77 contains a paragraph crucial to Reuchlin's 

understanding of who the Messiah will be and why:

It was thought, indeed strongly hoped, that [Enos's] name 

would accord with the kabbalah of the angel, the four-letter

name, YHWH, or be at the least, "in mercy" or, more

Kabbalistically, that he would have the letter S [i.e., Shin]

between the four letters.  In the sacred account is written,

though the translation here is not too well phrased:  "They

began to invoke the name of the Lord."  The translation is

accurate, but some more thoughtful Kabbalists have made a more

correct interpretation than is rendered by the literal

translation.  According to Gematria, "He wanted to be called

by the letter S."  In the art of Kabbalah this is equivalent 

to "in mercy."  Now according to Notaricon, the letter M 

stands for "in the middle of" (understood, the four letters

YHWH).  Thus the phrase is altered to read:  "He wanted to be

called by the letter S in the middle of the four letter YHWH."

Enos would take from the Tree of Life in accordance with the

angel's message, and redeem the world, as a Godlike man 

bearing the name YH-in mercy-WH.  Note this well.  It is a

sacred mystery.

 As noted earlier, S and M are two of the "mother letters" 

representing Fire and Water, chaos and harmony, En-Sof and Malkhut.  

In this case, Tiferet is the Center of the Tree around which cluster 

all the Fruit (sefirot).  Thus, Tiferet is fire and Malkhut is water, 

and when Tiferet is in the Middle in union with Malkhut, Tiferet 

(Jesus) baptizes with fire and water, and gives the Fruit (sefirot) to 

human beings to consume for their own salvation, His Body being the 

Fruit (all the sefirot) and his Blood being Malkhut (the Life).  Thus 

did Jesus say, "I am the Way (Tiferet), the Truth (from Hokhma and 

Bina), and the Life (Malkhut).  There is no way to God except through 

Me (all the sefirot)."  Again, Jesus is Jacob's Ladder upon which 

angels and human beings must ascend to reach En-Sof and descend back 

to this world.  When Shin, or Tiferet, is Balanced in the midst of the 

Tree, settled in the midst of the Tetragrammaton, then will Yeshua 

bring salvation to Eretz Yisrael.

 Reuchlin goes on to describe how Noah put his faith in wood when he 

built a wooden ark to save the human race.  "A Kabbalistic touch:  he 

put his trust in wood (as Job says, 'There is hope in wood'), and by 

doing so he was made certain that through wood life was promised to 

man" (77).  Clearly, Simon means that life comes through the wood of 

the Cross.  Also, just as an Ark of Wood saved Noah and his family, so 

a new Ark of the Covenant (the Virgin Mary) would bring salvation by 

giving birth to a man who would save the human race by the wood of his 

Cross.

 Reuchlin moves on to Shem and then to Abraham and Isaac.  Abraham 

offered up Isaac on an altar stacked with saving wood.  "According to 

the prophecy, after all, the original fault could only have wood for 

its remedy" (79).  Disappointingly, however, Isaac was not to be the 

Saviour who would redeem mankind by wood.  Clearly, another kind of 

wood was intimated.  Jacob also was not the Saviour, but Jacob was the 

first to see heaven opened along with the famous Ladder.  He also saw 

the name YHWH and hencefort "set up the stone he had anointed as a 

shrine, known as Bethel, and by his labor added in an S, which by the 

Notaricon method signifies shemen, or 'anointing oil'" (81).  An 

angel then prophesied that, although Jacob was not the saviour, the 

saviour would come from the tribe of Judah.  This is clearly a 

reference to the New Testament passage which holds that Jesus is "the 

Lion of the Tribe of Judah."  The S, the light of the world, we've 

already discussed.  Jacob, representing Tiferet, thus presaged the 

kind of Saviour the human race was to expect.  Moses knew that he 

himself could not be the Messiah because Moses was of the tribe of 

Levi, not Judah.  Reuchlin then quotes David who said, "Send your 

light and your truth...."  He then quotes Rashi:  "Your light is the 

Kingdom of the Messiah, as in the writing 'I have prepared a lamp for 

my Messiah.'"  This means, in my interpretation, that a lamp 

containing all the colors of the sefirot has been prepared to 

enlighten the earthly Body of En-Sof.  Just as a person is comprised 

of ten sefirot, so God on earth was comprised of Ten Sefirot of 

En-Sof.  Thus, God's light is the Shekhina (who has no light herself 

but who reflects all the lights of all the sefirot) of the Messiah who 

is the visible manifestation of En-Sof.

 Reuchlin cites another book called "On Faith and Atonement," which 

Simon quotes (109):

There is a way showing the strength of grace that has been

bestowed, which is a created strength.  The way follows a

route of seven exchanges, which are thirteen orders of 

forgiveness by which the world is to be guided until there be 

an end to sin and the Messiah come who is the strength of

God.  And in the strength of grace (which is the strength of

angels), and is the strength on which grace has been bestowed 

(which is the strength of the prophet), there will rest upon

him the spirit of the Name of God, the spirit of wisdom, the

spirit of understanding, the spirit of counsel and of 

strength, the spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord.

In translation, this says that Yesod of Chesed is the Foundation on 

which Chesed has been bestowed.  In other words, Chesed will be 

bestowed on man for the forgiveness of his sins through Yesod.  This 

means that from the Strength (Yesod) of God in the Crucifixion of 

Christ will Grace flow.  This is the strength of the Prophet, who is 

Jesus.  Furthermore, upon him, the Messiah, will rest YHVH (Tiferet), 

Hokhma, Bina, Chesed, Gevurah (pahad).

 Simon then cites the Kabbalistic book "Hacadma":  "And this is the 

secret of the king Messiah who will come swiftly, in our days.  All 

his work will begin with the VH and the YH, which is the mystery of 

the seventh day and this name is his whole name, and everything is 

accomplished by his hand."  Translated, this means that the secret of 

the Messiah Tiferet will come swiftly, in our days (sefirot).  Again, 

shin will come down between the letters of the Tetragrammaton, which 

is the mystery of Malkhut (Shabbat).  This is the meaning of the 

Scripture, "The Son of Man is Lord of Shabbat" (Matthew 12:8).  The 

Son of Man is the visible manifestation of En-Sof, the exact image of 

Adam Kadmon.  So that we must understand and perceive him, the visible 

manifestation of En-Sof appears as Tiferet of Malkhut.  As Malkhut 

contains all the sefirot, so Son of Man Tiferet is King over all the 

sefirot.

 In this way, Reuchlin mixes name-science Kabbalah with 

sefirotic-system Kabbalah.  He points that that "in mercy" comes in 

the middle of YHVH "together with 'merit' and 'service' and with rigor 

and harshness."  He then cites King David's prophecy that the Messiah 

"will judge your people in justice, and your poor in judgment."  The 

Gate of Light, chapter 3, says:  "Judgment is part rigor and part 

clemency."  And Hosea says:  "I shall betroth thee unto me, in justice 

and judgment, in loving kindess and in mercies."  Thus, the Messiah, 

who is Tiferet, will be betrothed to Malkhut in Chesed and Gevurah.  

Micah confirms this, saying that the Tetragrammaton will come forth 

through its property of Mercy.

 On page 117, Simon the Jew describes the three worlds, material, 

formal, and formless -- that is, the lowest world (sense world), the 

highest (mind and understanding), and the third world, the very 

highest, which is indescribable and divine.  "By such means, we 

believe," Simon says, "it is not beyond possibility that Kabbalists 

can in spirit be snatched up to where the Messiah flows into all 

lesser things, near to the third world."  Here, Reuchlin appears to be 

making a veiled reference to the Apostle Paul, whom he must regard as 

a Kabbalists, who says in 2 Corinthians 12:2-4:  "I know someone in 

Christ who, fourteen years ago (whether in the body or out of the body 

I do not know, God knows), was caught up to the third heaven.  And I 

know that this person (whether in the body or out of the body I do not 

know, God knows) was caught up into Paradise and heard ineffable 

things, which no one may utter."  Zoharically, this may be interpreted 

to mean that Paul was caught up in union with Tiferet and Malkhut 

whilst they were engaged in sexual intercourse.  On the other hand, it 

may mean that Paul flowed through Keter and was allowed a glimpse of 

En-Sof himself.  The Christian experience seems mixed on this point.  

Christ is the visible manifestation of En-Sof, yet no thought can 

grasp En-Sof, who is "unknowable and unutterable" (121), yet who has 

been made knowable and utterable through Christ.  Simon describes 

En-Sof as "hidden away in the furthest recesses of his divinity, into 

the unreachable abyss of the fountain of light, so thus nothing is 

understood to come from him -- as if at ease the absolute Deity held 

all kinds of things in his compass, himself remaining naked and 

unclothed, without the cloak of attributes."  As we shall see later in 

this essay, this is exactly how En-Sof appeared -- naked, unclothed, 

and without his attributes -- to an unforgiving world.

 Paradoxically, Reuchlin has Philolaus say in Book II, page 151, 

"However, no created thing can be drawn into the third world, for 

there is nothing inherently capable of such sublimity except God.  

This third world is the very highest of all; it contains the other 

worlds, and belongs to the Deity alone.  It is one with the divine 

essence, and is thus, it seems to me, rightly named 'the seat of all 

power.'"  Zoharically, one might interpret this to mean that the soul 

is not created, but begotten, of God (that is, Tiferet and Malkhut), 

and hence the soul, being a spark of the divine, is capable of 

ascending to the third world as no created thing can.  Mary is often 

called "the Seat of all Power" or the "Seat of Wisdom" because Christ 

rests on her lap.  When Tiferet dwelt within her, she became the 

Mother of Mercy, and an earthly third heaven.

 On page 155, the Pythagorean Philolaus describes how two is the first 

number, and one the source of all numbers.  One is God.  One 

inherently contains two.  Both are God since within God there is only 

God.  Inexplicably, he then states that "these three things are the 

source and beginning, and do not depart from the one essence of God, 

they are obviously the one God, for his essence cannot be split up."  

I'm not sure I follow his logic, but he seems to be saying that One 

and Two make Three.  Thus, One by itself, which inherently contains 

Two, is also simultaneously Three.  An obvious reference to the 

Trinity.  But let's go on.  "Two things are counted as derived from 

the one -- compare how in physical matters a unity becomes duality (do 

excuse this comparison), or even a tri-ality, while the substance 

remains the same.  It is like a tree trunk and its branches, or, just 

as good, a man's arm and his fingers.  So, from the one, which 

produces two, three appear.  If the essence, strictly separate from 

these, is added to them, there will be a conceptual 'quaternity' which 

is an infinitiude, and one, and two, and the substance, completion, 

and end of all Number.  One, two, three, and four, added together, 

make ten, and nothing more than ten."  In this way, Reuchlin suggests 

through his new mouthpiece, Philolaus, that inherent in the One is 

the Trinity and from the trinity flow the ten sefirot, the sefirot 

being within the One (Trinity), emanating from the One, and the One 

and the Ten being consubstantial (a good Catholic word).  On page 193, 

he notes that Zaratus, the teacher of Pythagoras, used to call One 

"Father" and Two "Mother."  This can mean either Hokhma and Bina, the 

supernal father and supernal mother, or Keter and Bina, according to 

the Christian Kabbalah.  "One and two, together with the divine 

essence, make that quaternitude, the Tetractys, the Idea of all 

things, which is to be brought to its highest perfection in the decad. 

This, said Pythagoras, was the source of everlastingness, nothing 

other than cognition of things in the divine mind operating in 

accordance with reason."  The Trinity and the Ten are One.  It is the 

source of Netsah, nothing more than Hokhma in union with Bina.  From 

the Tetractys flows ten, whose mean is five.  Six and four on the left 

(adding up to ten), then seven and three (adding up to ten).  Then 

eight and two, and nine and one.  This is a description of the 

sefirotic tree whose source is the One whose essence is the Trinity.  

 En-Sof, the source of light, is the Form Fire (197).  This image of 

Christ as the source of light is replete in the New Testament.  

1 John 1:5, "God is light and in him there is no darkness at all."   

This means God is comprised of the rivers of light called the sefirot 

and in the Garden of God the sefirot are the light where there is no 

darkness.  John 1:1ff:  "In the beginning," a word which, as we saw at 

the beginning of this essay, refers to the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, 

is made more explicit here; "In the beginning was Hokhma, and Hokhma 

was with Keter, and Hokhma was Keter.  Hokhma was in the beginning 

(which may refer to En-Sof here) with Keter.  All things came to be 

through Hokhma, and without Hokhma nothing came to be.  What came to 

be through Hokhma (who is Keter, remember) was life, and this life was 

the light (sefirot) of the human race; the light (sefirot) shine in 

the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it."  This is the 

meaning of the Scripture passage, "The Father and I are One" 

(John 10:30).  And again, "If I do not perform my Father's works, do 

not believe me; but if I perform them, even if you do not believe me, 

believe the works, so that you may realize [and understand] that the 

Father is in me and I am in the Father."  Thus, Keter is in Hokhma and 

Hokhma is in Keter, and they are One.  All the sefirot are mirrors of 

light; they reflect one another.  Each sefirah comprises nine others.  

Each sefirah shares in the Mystery of the Ten, the internal 

reflections maintaining their unity of content and identity of nature 

within the variations.

 On page 185, Philolaus makes an obscure reference to the 

unsuitability of saltwater fish for sacrifice.  "Whoever heard of a 

fish sacrifice?" he asks.  While I'm not entirely sure what he means 

by this comment, it is clear that Reuchlin himself is making a 

reference to the Eucharist.  In the early Christian church, the fish 

was an essential part of the eucharistic meal (whereas today only the 

bread and wine are essential).  The reason for this is that (and this 

is very pre-Zoharic) ICHTHUS are the initials of the Greek letters for 

Jesus Christ Son of God Saviour.  The word ICHTHUS itself, in Greek, 

means fish and was an early secret symbol of the Christian faith.  The 

source of the symbol was probably the Resurrected Jesus's eating of 

fish on the beach with the Apostles.  Jesus spent half his ministry 

preaching from fishing boats.

 One page 205, Philolaus explains that One is the origin of the mental 

world, and Two the origin of the corporeal world.  The corporeal world 

consists of point, line, area, and volume -- these four things.  After 

this is a six-sided cube with eight corners -- the architect of the 

sensible world.  Seven, Reuchlin has Philolaus explain obscurely, is a 

virgin and does not give birth.  I have puzzled long and hard over 

this one.  He does not seem to be referring to the Virgin Mary, who 

certainly did give birth.  Seven is the number of the sefirah Netsah.  

Here, he could be making an obscure reference to the Crucifixion, 

since Netsah can also mean Victory.  Hence, the Virgin Christ was 

Victorious on the Cross, bring Eternal Life (another meaning of 

Netsah).  But why does Seven not give birth?  Netsah is one of the 

twin sources of semen.  But, if Seven is a virgin, then no semen comes 

from Netsah alone.  On the other hand, in Reuchlin's possibly mixed-up 

system, Seven could refer to Yesod, whose virginity as Christ would 

make just as much sense.  Since Yesod is the male sexual organ itself, 

it cannot give birth, but only give seed.  I confess I'm at a loss 

over this one.  At any rate, he quotes Pythagoras's belief in 

"infinity, one, and two," God being the source of infinity, form the 

source of one-ness, and matter the source of other-ness.  Then, God 

unites form and matter, so that other-ness continually seeks itself, 

its essence, in one-ness, and finding it in infinity, that is, in God. 

 Page 251 speaks of En-Sof as the naked deity.  As we will see at the 

end of this essay, the naked deity was exposed to the world in Christ. 

God clothed himself in light until the very end when the rivers of 

light fled from En-Sof.  Page 255:  "And at the highest gate is the 

one creator of all, unknown to man, save the Messiah, for he is the 

light of God and the light of the nations; he knows God and through 

him is God known."  Jesus said, "I am the light of the world.  Whoever 

follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life" 

(John 8:12).  And, upon restoring sight to the man born blind, "We 

have to do the works of the one who sent me while it is day.  Night is 

coming when no one can work.  While I am in the world, I am the light 

of the world."  He said this to indicate that the mirrors of light 

would flee from his body on the last day.  But though his lights went 

out, still the lights burned among those who believed in him, as he 

said, "While you have the light, believe in the light, so that you may 

become children of the light" (John 12:36).  Jesus passed the lights 

of his body to his disciples and all who believed in him, who in turn 

passed the flames to others, who passed them to others, etc.  The 

lights dimmed and went out when the Source died -- "darkness came over 

the whole land until three in the afternoon because of an eclipse of 

the sun" (Luke 23:44).  Thus did the Light pass from the world.  But 

on the third day, the light returned, as it is written, "behold, two 

men in dazzling garments appeared to them."

 On page 271 I was delighted to see Marranus support your comment to 

me, once, Dr. Blumenthal:  "Our teachers assert this too:  that angels 

appear to men in different ways."  And women, too, presumably.  He 

quotes Chrysostom, however, who says concerning Joseph:  "The angel 

appears in a dream.  Why not openly, as to the shepherds and Zachariah 

and the Virgin?  Because that man was a strong believer and had no 

need of a vision."  I think I would strongly dispute the assumption 

that visions are for the weak and dreams for the strong.  In the first 

place, I find it difficult to believe that the Virgin's faith was less 

strong than Joseph's, who did the right thing only because of his 

dream (whereas previously he contemplated sin).  Mary, on the other 

hand, obeyed God before, during, and after the Vision of the 

Anunciation.  On the other hand, Jesus did say, "An evil and 

unfaithful generation seeks a sign, but no sign will be given it 

except the sign of Jonah" (Matthew 16:4).  Those of us who receive 

visions must accept them as the will of God and pray for understanding 

with kavvanah.  Simon the Jew goes on, "Some men have been quite happy 

and content just to have seen angels in human form.  Others have seen 

them in the form of fire, or wind and air, at streams and waters, in 

birds, gems, minerals and precious stones, in prophetic frenzy, 

through a spirit living inside them, in the shape of letters, or the 

sound of a voice, and so on.  Holy Scripture contains many kinds of 

vision."  Simon adds that the name of God (El) is inside every angel; 

the angels command obedience because "My Name is in them."  

 He continues with some really incredible name-science.  On page 285, 

he gives the names of the sefirot.  On page 287, he derives the ten 

names of God from the ten sefirot, and through them to the One Name of 

the Tetragrammaton.  En-Sof is the Alpha and the Omega, which is what 

Christ calls himself in the Revelation to John.  The Crown he 

identifies as the Father of all Mercies, "whose mystery is that he 

seals up Essence through Truth."  He goes on:  "If we multiply Ehieh 

(meaning 'essence') by Ehieh we will get 441, which is the same as 

Emeth, the word for 'true' or 'truth,' and the same as Adonai Shalom, 

which means 'Lord of Peace.'  There is more too that comes down to 

this same source, such as the great Aleph, the Fear of the Lord, the 

inaccessible light and the days of eternity.  As it is written in the 

book on the ten Sephirot by that great Kabbalist Tedacus Levi, 'His 

goings forth have been from of old, from the days of eternity.'"  

Truth is Tiferet, who is the Lord of Peace, or the husband of Malkhut. 

Simon goes on to confirm that the earlier mentioned doctrine of the 

Trinity is supported in Kabbalistic belief:  "I think I'm right in 

replying that infinity itself exists in the three summits of the 

Kabbalists' tree of ten Sephirot (which you usually call the three 

divine Persons).  Infinity is the most absolute Essence, drawn back in 

the depths of shades, and, lying or, as they say, reliant upon nothing, 

is hence called "Nothing" or "Not being," and "Not end" (En-Sof) 

because we are so damned by our feeble understanding of divine matters 

that we judge things that are not apparent in the same way as we judge 

things that do not exist."  This is the meaning of the text, "The Holy 

Spirit will come upon you and the power of the Most High will 

overshadow you.  Therefore the child to be born will be called holy, 

the Son of God" (Luke 1:35).  This means that Bina will come upon the 

Virgin Mary, cover her with her Shadow, and give birth to Tiferet into 

the womb of Shekhinah who waits, touching the womb of the Virgin Mary. 

For Bina is the green line that encircles the universe (Tiferet is 

green).  She is Teshuvah and will bring her people to repentance.  She 

is Form, Hokhma is matter, Tohu va-vohu.  They unite to bring forth 

the Incarnation of En-Sof.  Simon says that to Bina is attributed:  

"Lord, spirit, soul, prayer, the mystery of faith, mother of sons, the 

King sitting on the throne of mercy, the great Jubilee, the great 

Sabbath, spiritual foundation, miraculous light, the lightest day, the 

fifty gates, the Day of Atonement, the inner voice, the river issuing 

forth from paradise, the second letter of the Tetragrammaton, 

repentance, the deep waters, my sister, the daughter of my father, and 

other things."  

 Tiferet, her Son, is:

"Eloha, enlightening speculation, the wood of life, pleasure, 

the Line of the Mean, the written Law, the High Priest, the 

rising of the sun and the color purple.  Tedacus Levi writes 

that it is from this place that the seventy nations are spread 

out over the earth and that its sign is the Truth of the Lord, 

and that it is called Peace and has its shape pictured in the 

moon.  Its mystery is the third letter of the Tetragrammaton 

and this mystery is 'Our father who is in heaven,' the man 

above or the heavenly Adam, judgment, opinion, Michael, the 

old man Israel, the God of Jacob."  

So, Tiferet is the wood of life who will bring salvation to humankind. 

He is pleasure because he brings eternal happiness to those who 

believe in his name.  He is the Balance that keeps all the sefirot 

level.  The sign of the seventy nations is Tiferet consort of Malkhut. 

In Mercy is found true peace.  Tiferet comes and he is En-Sof, for all 

the sefirot are mirrors of light reflecting one another.  He is the 

God of Jacob.

Page 291:

To the tenth Sephira come the Lord, the kingdom, life, the 

second cherub, unilluminating speculation, later things, the

end, the church of Israel, the bride in the Song of Songs, the

Queen of Heaven, the virgin Israel, the mystery of Law as 

transmitted by word of mouth, the eagle, the fourth letter of 

the Tetragrammaton, the kingdom of the house of David, the

Temple of the king, the doors of God, the Ark of the Covenant

and the two tablets in it, the Lord of all the earth.

It's clear here that Shekhinah has united with the Virgin Mary in a 

mystical union to produce the King of Glory in her/their womb 

together.  Mary, of course, is a strong early symbol of the Church.  

Mary is the Queen of Heaven and she brought forth into the world the 

kingdom of the house of David.  She is the Temple of Tiferet, her 

birthgate the doors of God.  She is the Ark of the Covenant, for 

Tiferet/En-Sof is the Covenant between himself and humanity.  The two 

tablets represent Christ who manifests himself in two forms:  "I will 

place my law within them, and write it upon their hearts; I will be 

their God, and they shall be my people" (Jeremiah 31:33).  And the 

second form:  "You are our letter, written on our hearts, known and 

read by all, shown to be a letter of Christ administered by us, 

written not in ink but by the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets 

of stone but on tablets that are hearts of flesh."  Thus, we have two 

tablets:  the law written on our hearts and our very being which is a 

spark of the divine written on our hearts of flesh.  There is a giant 

sign on the doorway leading into our hearts:  This Way To God.

 On page 295, Simon quotes Psalm 21:  "Oh Lord, in your strength the 

king will rejoice, is understood by Kabbalists as referring to the 

Messiah:  "O Lord, Tetragrammaton, in your strength the king 

Messiah...' (understand 'comes' or 'operates').  The Messiah is the 

strength of God and works in the strength of the Tetragrammaton.  I 

understand this from the word YShMH, meaning 'will rejoice,' whose 

letter transposed make MShYH, meaning 'Messiah.'"  Reuchlin seems to 

be suggesting here that the Messiah is Yesod.  Or, perhaps, Tiferet 

operates by Yesod (his strength).

 1 Kings 19:11:

A strong and heavy wind was rending the mountains and

crushing rocks before the YHVH -- but YHVH was not in the

wind.  After the wind there was an earthquake -- but YHVH

was not in the earthquake.  After the earthquake there was 

fire -- but YHVH was not in the fire.  After the fire there

was a tiny whispering sound.

Page 337:

but after the fire was a still, small voice, and in that voice

the glory of YHVH, which is called Kavod, spoke to him.  So 

will you, after the rough, thorny desert, after the mountain 

and the rocks and the wind and the earthquake, after the fire

and after the voice in the very entrance of the caverns and 

the caves, so you will hear, once you have shed the mass of 

your secular occupations, the glory of God saying to you:  

"What is this place to you?  Go on your way."  As the 

narrative goes in 3 Kings 19.

Here, Reuchlin associates Tiferet with Shekhinah.  The Hod of Tiferet, 

which is called Shekhina, spoke to him.  After all of nature screams 

at you, Malkhut of Tiferet says to you that heaven is not a place, but 

a relationship with God.

 On page 343, Reuchlin says that Keter, Hokhma, and Bina are the 

single crown of Tiferet.  God, clothed with ten garments of light 

(page 345), created the heavens from the light of his last garment, 

"not the physical ones but the invisible, intellectual spiritual 

entities, about which the Psalmist says:  'The heavens tell of the 

glory of God.'"  The word is not Shamayim but HaShamayim, not the 

physical heavens but the spiritual heavens.

 On page 353, Marranus finally gets around to making some obvious, 

unveiled remarks about Christian belief.  They speak of the power of 

the Cross.  "With the sign of the Cross," he says, "and the name of 

Jesus they still the seas, abate the winds and repel thunderbolts."  

He then explains how YHSVH is equivalent to IESU, the true Messiah.  

Simon then reveals how "the better Kabbalist sages tried to liken this 

figure of the Cross to the tree of the bronze serpent set up in the 

desert, though they did so silently and secretly."  The Torah 

reference is Number 21:8, whereas the New Torah reference is

John 3:14, "And just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the desert, so 

must the Son of Man be lifted up, so that everyone who believes in him 

may have eternal life."  

 Johanne Reuchlin's book, DE ARTE CABALISTICA, was fascinating and I 

greatly enjoyed employing my knowledge of the Zohar to its precepts 

and applications.  I have not yet begun to learn Kabbalah.

=========================================================================

Tanna Anne said, What is the meaning of the passage, "in Adam 

all die" (1 Cor. 15:22)?  Adam sinned when he ate of the Tree of 

Knowledge (Hokhma), for "the wages of sin is death" (Rom. 6:23).  Yet 

how do we explain Heb. 4:15, which tells us that the Holy One, blessed 

be He, was tested in every way that we are, yet without sin?  Come and 

see.  "So, too, it is written:  'The first man, Adam, became a living 

being,' the last Adam a life-giving spirit" (1 Cor. 15:45).  The first 

Adam, because of his sin, lost his supernal image, and the ages waited 

for the life-giving Adam to become manifest.  And the Holy One, 

blessed be He, came in the form of En-Sof (Phil. 2:6).  Yet Tiferet 

did not regard equality with En-Sof a thing to be grasped.  Rather, he 

emptied himself (of the sefirot), taking the form of a slave, coming 

in human appearance (Adam Kadmon); and found human in appearance, he 

humbled himself, becoming obedient to Malkhut, Who sent Him to the 

Cross.  Because of this, En-Sof exalted him and bestowed on him the 

name that is above every name, that at the name of Yeshua (YHSVH) 

every knee should bend, in the upper world, the lower world, and in 

sitra achra, and every tongue confess that ha-Mashiach Yeshua is 

Tiferet, for the sake of Malkhut in Keter.

This is how it happened.  Come and see.

Tiferet is the Center of the Tree; all the sefirot are in him. 

See, it is written, Yeshua said, "I am the light of the world.  

Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light 

of life" (John 8:12) and also, "But for you who fear my name, there 

will arise the sun of justice with its healing rays" (Malachi 3:20).  

All colors shine forth from the Sun (En-Sof); all colors shine forth 

from Yeshua.  Yeshua said, "I am Tiferet, Hokhma, and Malkhut.  No one 

comes to Keter except through me" (John 14:6).  Once a Companion has 

come to Keter, he perceives En-Sof, the imperceptible.  Philip wished 

to see the inexpressible; "Show us Keter," he said (John 14:8ff).  

Yeshua said to him, "Have I been with you for so long a time and you 

still do not know me, Philip?  Whoever has seen me has seen Keter....I 

am in Keter and Keter is in me....Keter is working through me...."  

For this reason, Yeshua gave us a new commandment, that we should pass 

chesed from one to another.  When a Companion touches a Companion, 

chesed passes between them, and En-Sof is made manifest.

Yeshua said, "Amen, amen, I say to you, one of my Companions 

will betray me" (John 13:21ff).  Yeshua then communed with Judas, 

summoning the powers of sitra achra.  So it is written, "After Judas 

took the morsel, Satan entered into him" (John 13:27ff).  Then Tiferet 

commanded Samael, as the husks began to surround Tiferet to protect 

him from those who would prevent his glorification, "Go, do what you 

must do, and quickly."  Samael and Lilith then began to take delight 

in one another, but Samael lusted after Malkhut.  As Samael and Lilith 

writhed, Judas burned with lust for the blood of Mercy, and the 

Assembly of Israel rewarded him by crowning him with thirty husks from 

sitra achra (Matthew 26:15).  This is the meaning of Ye shall know a 

tree by its fruit and the bad tree producing bad fruit will be thrown 

into the fires of sitra achra.  And, if the eye is dark, the whole 

body is filled with darkness, and how great is that darkness!  It 

would have been better that Yehuda had never been born.

A prostitute anointed netzah and hod with her tears.  Mary of 

Magdala anointed keter with nard.  Thus they prepared him.

Tiferet said, "I am manna.  This is my soma.  This is the 

Whole Being of En-Sof.  Eat."  He gave the Companions the Cup:  "This 

is my blood of Yesod (the Covenant), which will be shed for you and 

for many for the forgiveness of sins.  Do this in remembrance of me.  

Amen, I say to you, I shall not drink again from Shekhinah until the 

Day when I drink her new in the Upper World within En-Sof."  How will 

this happen?  Come and see.

"Keter," Tiferet prayed, "take this Cup away from me.  Yet not 

my will, but yours, be done."  And an angel came and comforted him.  

The Sanhedrin questioned him, "Are you ha-Mashiach, the Son of 

Hokhmah?"  YHSVH answered, "You will see the Son of Hokhmah between 

Chesed and Gevurah, and coming with all the sefirot" (Mark 14:62).  

Then they took away the light of his eyes (v65), spit on him, ordered 

him to prophesy, and struck him.  Thus began the Passion of En-Sof.

Pilate (Samael) asked Yeshua, "Are you Tiferet [consort] of 

Malkhut?" (Mark 15:2).  Tiferet, separated from Malkhut, said sadly, 

"You say so."  Pilate said, "I am not a Jew, am I?  Your own nation 

and the chief priests handed you over to me.  What have you done?"  

Tiferet responded, "My Consort does not belong to the lower world.  If 

Malkhut belonged to this world, my soldiers would be fighting to keep 

me from being handed over to the Judeans.  But as it is, my holy wife 

is not with me," he concluded sadly, knowing that he would unite with 

her soon.  So Pilate said to him, "Then you are Tiferet?"  Tiferet 

answered, "You say I am Tiferet.  For this I was born and for this I 

came into the lower world, to testify to Hokhma and Bina, my supernal 

father and supernal mother.  Everyone who belongs to hokhma-bina 

listens to my voice."  Puzzled, Pilate/Samael, who could only see up 

the sefirotic tree as far as Malkhut, responded, "Who is Hokhma/Bina?"

A discussion arose among the sefirot.  Who will be first to 

return to En-Sof?  Malkhut declared she could not leave until the 

Uncreation was complete, for in her rested all the sefirot.  Yesod 

said, "I am the Sign of the Holy Covenant.  I cannot leave."  Netsah 

said, "I am the eternity of God.  How can I leave?"  Hod said, "I am 

the Splendour of God.  How can I leave?"  Tiferet bowed his head.  "I 

am the Center; all touch me.  I cannot leave until all have gone."  

Chesed and Gevurah together declared, "We must flow together upward 

and downward (that is, up towards the Upper World, and down upon the 

Lower World).  We cannot leave before accomplishing this."  Bina said, 

"I make sense of the Beginning."  Hokhma said, "I am the application 

of the Understanding."  Together, they said, "We cannot leave before 

the Inexpressible."  Then Keter arose in their midst.  "I am the Crown 

of Adam.  I am the inexpressibility of the Endless.  Last to speak, I 

am first.  I will return from whence I came."  Of them all, Keter was 

the strongest.

That is how it happened.

En-Sof was scourged.  They bound his two hands to a pillar on 

either side and stripped him of his garments (Makkoth 3:12).  They 

made him bend low (Makkoth 3:13), as it is written, "the judge shall 

cause him to lie down."  Thus was the nakedness of the Lord of Glory 

exposed to His creatures.  They gave him one-third of the stripes in 

front and two-thirds behind (Makkoth 3:13).  And the Roman soldiers, 

according to the will of En-Sof, whipped En-Sof with all their might 

(Makkoth 3:13).  Hokhma and Bina suffered [they whipped his 

shoulders].  Chesed and Gevurah suffered [they whipped his lower back 

and arms].  Tiferet suffered [they whipped his chest].  Yesod suffered 

twofold [for shame of exposure as they whipped his buttocks].  Netsah 

and Hod suffered [they whipped his legs].

The soldiers wove a crown of thorns and adorned Him with 

Keter.  Then Keter suffered [they beat him about the head].  As blood 

flowed from Hokhma and Bina, as blood flowed from Chesed and Gevurah, 

as blood flowed from Tiferet, [as blood flowed from Yesod eight days 

after the birth of En-Sof], as blood flowed from Netsah and Hod, so 

blood flowed from Keter down his face.  Then they wrapped the Supernal 

Mother and the Supernal Father in purple.  "Hail, Tiferet," they 

jeered, "Consort of Malkhut!"  Then was the Lord presented 

to the Assembly of Israel, who cried, "Crucify Him!  Crucify Him!"  

For Samael had raped Shekhinah and Judgment flowed, who also suffered.  

Pilate shouted at the Assembly of Israel, "Behold En-Sof!"  Shekhinah 

replied, "Crucify Him!"  Shocked, Pilate asked, "Shall I crucify your 

Consort?"  Shekhinah replied, "We have no King but Caesar (that is, 

Samael)."  Thus did the Assembly of Israel deny the Kingship of God.  

At the denial of the Endless, the Inexpressible bled tears, and 

returned to En-Sof.

Still in shock at the loss of Keter, Yeshua groaned as the 

wooden beam was laid upon Hokhma and Bina.  As the Holy One, Blessed 

be He, was driven with whips on the Via Dolorosa, he saw his holy 

Mother.  Stunned beyond comprehension, Wisdom and Knowledge fled the 

already depleted Garden, and the Holy One, blessed be He, was driven 

to his knees.  Weakened by the loss of Hokhma and Bina, and unable to 

rise, the soldiers of sitra achra moved the heavy wooden beam onto the 

shoulders of one Simon of Cyrene.  When he saw the strange woman, he 

stumbled a second time.  She touched him with clean linen, wiping 

Keter's blood from his face.  At the sight of his disciples beating 

their breasts and wailing over him, he stumbled a third time, saying 

to them, "Daughters of Jerusalem, weep not for me.  Weep rather for 

yourselves and for your children, for indeed, the days are coming 

when people will say, 'Blessed are the barren, the wombs that never 

bore and the breasts that never nursed.'  At that time people will say 

to the mountains, 'Fall upon us!' and to the hills, 'Cover us!' for if 

things such as these happen when the wood is green, what will happen 

when it is dry?"

When they reached the place called Calvary (the Skull), they 

laid him on the ground, and drove huge nails into Gevurah and Chesed.  

Gevurah and Chesed, thus united, fled into En-Sof.  Then they lifted 

him up upon the Cross.  When the soldiers of sitra achra crossed his 

feet, they drove the nail simultaneously into Netsah and Hod.  When 

the Splendour of God was thus driven into Eternity, they fled, united, 

into En-Sof.  Tiferet said, "Keter, forgive them, for they know not 

what they do."  Yesod, the Foundation, suffered extreme exposure, 

greatly humiliated, yet he refused to leave Tiferet.  The Assembly of 

Israel gazed upon Yesod, yet Yesod felt no desire for her, possessed 

as she was by sitra achra, only shame that all the powers of sitra 

achra should thus stare at him exposed.  "Mercy!" Yesod cried.  And, 

touched by Mercy, Yesod fled to En-Sof.  Thus was Tiferet left alone 

on the Cross.  They nailed an inscription above him:  "This is 

Tiferet Consort of Malkhut."

Malkhut, seeing the inscription, sneered at him, "He saved 

others, let him save himself if he is the Chosen One, the Messiah of 

En-Sof."  They offered him wine, but he would drink no wine until he 

had drunk of Malkhut.  A penitent thief said, "Tiferet, remember when 

you are reunited with your Consort, Shekhinah."  Tiferet replied, 

"Amen, I say to you, today you will with me among ALL the sefirot."

Looking down from the Cross, Tiferet realized he could not yet 

be released until he had released all.  When he saw his holy Mother 

and the disciple there whom he loved, he said to his mother, "Behold 

your son."  Then he said to the disciple, "Behold your Mother."  His 

disciple obeyed him and he had nothing left.  Then was Tiferet truly 

alone.

As Malkhut continued to jeer at him, Tiferet, in despair, 

whispered, "I thirst."  They offered him wine, but he thirsted not for 

wine, but for Malkhut; yet Malkhut repulsed him.  He refused the wine. 

He would have nothing but Malkhut.  And there was only one way to 

obtain her.  Tiferet was afraid.  His despair intensified.  He yearned 

for unity.  At noon darkness came over the whole land and the Tree of 

Death reigned supreme.  When Tiferet saw the darkness, he was 

terrified, trembling.  I can't do it alone, he thought, though he knew 

he must.  In the deep darkness of his despair, he called for help.  

"Eloi, Eloi!" he cried beseechingly to Those Who Had Fled, "lema 

sabachthani?" which is translated, "My God, my God!  Why hast thou 

forsaken me?"  Again, they tried to make him drink wine, but only 

Malkhut, Malkhut, who leered at him with the branches of the Tree of 

Death.  A shadow fell over him.  Crying aloud, Tiferet said, "Keter, 

into thy hands, I commend my spirit.  It is finished."  When he said 

this, Tiferet moved towards En-Sof, the Veil of the Sanctuary was torn 

in two, that is, the Sitra Achra separating Malkhut from Tiferet was 

torn apart, Malkhut was freed, the earth quaked, rocks were split, 

tombs were opened (the Tree of Death became again the Tree of Life), 

and the bodies of many saints who had fallen asleep were raised.  In 

joy, Tiferet and Malkhut united, and blessings flowed to the Upper and 

Lower worlds.  Stunned at this unexpected turn of events, one of the 

soldiers of sitra achra stabbed Tiferet, but blood and water (red and 

white, Chesed and Gevurah, flowing from Tiferet and Malkhut), flowed 

from the side of En-Sof, cleansing the world of its uncleanness, 

freeing humanity from its slavery to sin, and sending the husks into 

retreat.  After sitra achra fled from the soldiers, they said, "Truly, 

this was the Son of God!"

The ten sefirot, united at last, gazed around them for En-Sof 

into whom they had fled, but saw Nothing.  Joseph of Arimathea wrapped 

the Body in clean linens and laid the Body in a freshly hewn tomb.  

Then En-Sof rested in the world of the dead on Shabbat, according to 

the Commandment.  The sefirot rested in the Upper World on Shabbat, 

according to the Commandment.  The women rested on Shabbat, according 

to the Commandment.  A legend from the nations told magi from the east 

of the king to be born in Israel.  Just so, a legend from the nations 

explains the reaction of the sefirot to the Body:  "The Gods gathered 

like flies around the Sacrifice" (Gilgamesh).  This happened in the 

deep darkness just before the morning.  As protons, electrons, and 

neutrons surround the nucleus, the sefirot surrounded the ended 

Endless.  For the sefirot had fled to Upper regions of En-Sof; now 

they returned to the nucleus, the kernel of their being.  Keter was 

first.  Come and see.  It is like a family that has lived in a house 

for many years, but move away for a time.  All the furniture is 

removed from the house.  Later, the same family moves back into the 

house.  All the furniture is returned to the same place.  Each family 

member returns to their favorite spot.  Here is the question:  Is it 

the same House?  Keter was first.  This is the meaning of the passage, 

"When Simon Peter arrived...he went into the tomb and saw the burial 

cloths there, and the cloth that had covered his head, not with the 

burial cloths but rolled up in a separate place" (John 20:6-7).  Thus 

Keter was first.  For Keter was always the strongest.  He smelled the 

sweetness of the Sacrifice and, like a fly attracted to honey, he ate 

the Sacrifice, and became One with En-Sof.  When Inexpressibility 

returned to En-Sof, Wisdom and Intelligence followed.  As 

Gedula/Gevura flowed upon the lower world and upper world, so 

Gedula/Gevura flowed into En-Sof.  Timelessness reentered Endless in 

Splendour.  Yesod, the glue holding all the sefirot together, 

reestablished the Foundation of Adam, pulling gently upon Tiferet and 

Malkhut.  Yet Tiferet hesitated, and Malkhut with him.  The sweet 

smell of the Sacrifice was overpowering, and Tiferet yearned to 

return, yet the memory of his experience with the Tree of Death gave 

him pause.  "Come," said Shekhinah.  "Let us together reestablish the 

Kingdom of God."  "Yes," responded Tiferet.  "Together, let us give 

humankind everlasting Life!"  And together Tiferet Consort of Malkhut 

and Malkhut Consort of Tiferet brought everlasting Life to humankind 

through the forgiveness of sins by the Mercy of God.

That is how it happened.

When the women went to the tomb to Anoint the Sacrifice, the 

stone sealing the tomb was rolled back, and a white-robed angel said 

to them, "Do not be amazed!  You seek En-Sof, the Crucified.  He is 

not here; he is risen!  Behold, the place where they laid him.  But go 

and tell his disciples and Peter, "He is going before you to Galilee; 

there you will see him, as he told you.'"  Then they went out and fled 

from the tomb, seized with trembling and bewilderment.  They said 

nothing to anyone, for they were afraid.

-- 

Cindy Smith              --  Spawn of a Jewish Carpenter

cms@dragon.com           ||  A Real Live Catholic in Georgia

emory!dragon!cms         ||  

><>                      /\  Woe to craven hearts and drooping hands,

Delay not your       .--/--\--.  to the sinner who treads a double path!

conversion       |----\/-||-\/----| Woe to the faint of heart who trust not,

to the Lord,     |----/\-||-/\----|   who therefore will have no shelter!

put it not off       `--\--/--'     Woe to you who have lost hope!

from day to day          \/   what will you do at the visitation of the Lord?

                         ||           

     -- Ecclesiasticus   ||           -- Ecclesiasticus/Ben Sira 2:12-14  

        /Ben Sira 5:8    --