Rabbi Shimon.com

The Torah has five books. The number five in Kabbalah represents the Ten Sefirot as Keter, Chokmah, Binah, Zeir Anpin (six levels) and Malchut. The first book, \”בראשית\” (Genesis) is Keter, \”שמות\” (Exodus) is Chokmah, \”ויקרא\” (Leviticus) is Binah, \”במדבר\” (Numbers) is Zeir Anpin and \”דברים\” (Deuteronomy) is Malchut.

The process of transformation from Spiritual to physical is called \”השתלשלות\”, evolving. Keter is coming from the unknown and the source of the light, Chochma, channels the light and Binah begins the process of manifestation or the forming of the vessel. (To simplify, vessel is a container of light with ability to create or cause an action in this world).

The book of Bereshit is the source of everything in this world.  Shemot (= names in Hebrew) brings the revelation of the light through the process and the miracles of breaking the bondage to Egypt, the revelation on Mount Sinai and the completion of building the Tabernacle.

In Vayikra (Leviticus) we have the tools to activate and use the light. The first verse \”ויקרא־אל־משה\” with small Aleph initiates the connection of the Light through the Tabernacle and the Torah as \”לוחות־העדות\” is in the Arc. Rabbi Yosef Gikatilla in \”Saarei Orah\” (part \”א\”) explains that the Aleph is for Ohel Moed \”אוהל־מועד\”. The call to Moshe from Ohel Moed is a connection of the Light from the level of Malchut, the small Aleph.

The Zohar begins the parasha with Rabbi Elazar quoting Yeshayahu (Isaiah) the prophet saying to king Ahaz, \”שאל־לך־אות־מעם־י׳־אלוקיך\”, then asking the question \”What\’s the difference between the first and the last generations?\” and answers that the first generations knew the supernal wisdom of the letters and how to combine them into powerful tools to control actions in this world. Even the wicked ones in Yisrael, Like King Ahaz knew the letters of Binah and the Letters of Malchut.

The letters are the secret of the vessel and the light, which comes from Binah with the essence of Zeir Anpin and worlds of Briah, Yetzirah, Asiya (Creation, Formation, and Action).

Those are the letters given to Moshe on Mount Sinai and contain in the Torah.
There are 16 occurrences in the Torah with different size letters. Ten large letters connect us to the level of Binah and six small letters connect us to Malchut of Zeir Anpin.

The first letter of the Torah is the letter \”ב\” of \”בראשית\”. It signifies that the seed of the Torah is in Binah. That is where the energy comes to Zeir Anpin (The Torah). The first verse of the Torah says \”בראשית־ברא־אלקים־את\” that is, in the beginning G-d created “את”. Hebrew Aleph Bet was created first and \”את\” is the first and the last letter of it. The Zohar says that 2000 years before the world was created G-d played with the Hebrew letters. In another place it says that G-d was looking in the Torah and creating the world. This teaches us that the Hebrew letters are above all dimensions. When a scriber (\”סופר־סתם\”) writes a Torah scroll he must be clean physically and spiritually, His consciousness should be pure and must go to the Mikveh before he starts writing.

Before writing each letter he should touch the scroll with the ink to make a tiny mark and meditate on the letter Yod, \”י\” (to connect the letter to the upper levels) as a start for the actual letter. There are many rules on writing a Kosher Torah and even if one of them is broken, it invalidates the whole Torah Scroll and it can not be used as a tool to draw the light. There are many printing devices that can print a magnificent and accurate Torah scroll, but without the needed consciousness it cannot be used.

A person that orders a Torah scroll must choose the scriber that is going to do the writing carefully, in order to have the best channel of light possible for him and for the people that will read and listen to the reading from it.

The top of every column in the Torah scroll begins with the letter \”ו\”, the columns in the Torah are like the letter \”ו\”, and only in six places the letters at the top of the columns are different. Those letters spells \”ביה־שמו\” numerical value \”המשיח\”, \”The Mashiach\”

In ten places in the Torah there are 32 dots above the letters, representing 10 Sefirot and the 22 letters of the \”א־ב\”. They channel the 32 paths of wisdom (Chokmah). The first letter of the Torah is \”ב\” and the last one is \”ל\”, together it is \”לב\” (numerical value 32) which also means \”Heart\”.

There are 32 teeth in the mouth for the same reason. (To channel that energy). It says \”Life and Death by the hand of the tongue\”, \”חיים־ומות־ביד־הלשון\”. This tells us that we are constructed to be channels for the light and that we have the ability to build or destroy with our words.

The Ari Hakadosh in the beginning of \”Shaar Ruach Hakodesh\” (Part of Kitvei Ha\’Ari) said that with every word we say we create an angle; positive or negative depending on the word. The positive angles help us in time of need and the negative angels create blockages when we don\’t need them.

The letters of the Torah and the words we hear from the reader on Shabbat are very important connections for us to draw the necessary energy from the reading. When we hear the process of sacrifices in the Tabernacle to cleanse a person from impurity, we also connect to the same energy.

When it says \”ונשלמה־פרים־שפתינו\” \”we will pay sacrifices with our lips\” it means that the power of the words are like the sacrifices in the Temple . Since the Temple is not accessible and we can not bring sacrifices to the Kohen to remove any negativity from ourselves, we read and recite the process that was done in the Temple. With this knowledge and the Ari\’s teaching on creating angels with our words, we can begin to understand the reason for all the different prayers we recite on a daily basis, Shabbat and Holidays.

Another revelation from Zohar Vayikra is about Moshe who couldn\’t go inside the cloud in the Tabernacle. \”ולא־יכול־לבוא־משה־אל־אהל־מועד־כי־שכן־עליו־הענן\”. The question is why he couldn’t go inside the cloud now when he could be in the cloud on the mountain 40 days and 40 nights before. The Zohar explains that on the Mountain the cloud was from Malchut and on the Tabernacle, it was from Binah. All the chariots and the vessels of the supernal Tabernacle were in this cloud.
That was the hidden process that came from the left column of Binah, called \”Mishkan and Ohel Moed\” to establish the presence of the Shechinah in the lower levels and to give us support.