On this day a breath of delight spreads throughout all the world, so that all those who observe the Sabbath can enjoy perfect rest.
On this day all negative judgments are suppressed, and even the wicked in Gehenna are at ease. All powers of negativity vanish and no other power reigns in any of the worlds.
On this day the voice of a herald proclaims, “Arise, O celestial ones, arise, O holy people, arise in perfect joy to meet your Master! Blessed is your portion, Israel, in this world and the World to Come.”
Therefore all blessings above and below depend on the seventh day. For the Sabbath is equal in worth to the whole of the Torah, and whoever keeps the Sabbath is like one who keeps all of the Torah.
This kabbalistic myth emphasizes the holiness of the Sabbath in heaven as well as on earth. The Zohar emphasizes that although the individual acts of creation were finished, the world was not perfect until the seventh day. That is why it is stated that God completed His work on the seventh day (Gen. 2:2). So potent is the blessing of the Sabbath that its delight spreads throughout the world and even cancels negative decrees, such as the punishments of Gehenna. So crucial is keeping the Sabbath that doing so it is said to be the equivalent of honoring all of the laws of the Torah.
Sources:
Zohar 2:88a-89a, 2:47a-47b, 2:222b; Keter Shem Tov 401.
393. THE ADORNMENT OF THE SABBATH
On the Sabbath, when the Torah is crowned, it is adorned with all the commandments, with all the decrees and punishments, and with the seventy branches of light, which shine on every side. Branches grow from every branch, and gates are open on every side, all of them shining and resplendent with light.
Here the Sabbath is being adorned like a bride, but not in jewels, but in the commandments, and the Sabbath day is viewed as if it were a wedding. Indeed, it is a sacred duty to make love on Friday night. This is also expressed as sleeping under the shelter of the Shekhinah, who is also the Sabbath Queen. See “The Sabbath Bride,” p. 309.
Sources:
Zohar 2:88b-89a.
394. THE PRINCESS OF THE SABBATH
After completing the work of Creation during the first six days, God ascended to the heaven called Habitation of Joy, to sit on His celestial throne. As He arrived, all the angelic princes appointed over the cosmos came before Him—rejoicing, dancing, and singing.
At that moment, God ushered in the princess of the Sabbath and sat her alongside Him. He brought every prince of heaven before her. They danced and exulted before her, saying, “The Sabbath, she is the Lord’s” (Lev. 23:3). God even lifted up Adam to the heights of the highest heavens to regale her and rejoice in the Sabbath’s joy.
During the week the princess of the Sabbath wears special garments, but on the Sabbath she wears two layers of lovely garments, the raiment of the upper worlds, for each word of Sabbath prayer bedecks and adorns the bride. Thus she is crowned from above and below, as heaven celebrates and the holy people of Israel bless her with joy and with their prayers.
As many myths have emphasized, the Sabbath is not only celebrated on earth, but also in heaven. Here the Sabbath, personified as a princess (one of the incarnations of the Shekhinah) is at the center of a great heavenly celebration that takes place at the end of the six days of Creation. This is nothing less than an enthronement myth, and should be considered along with the other enthronement myths found about Adam, Enoch/Metatron, Jacob, Moses, King David, and the Messiah. That the ceremony takes place during the first Sabbath indicates its significance. It can be understood to permanently establish the central role of both the Shekhinah and the Sabbath in ruling heaven and earth. See “The Enthronement of Adam,” p. 131; “The Metamorphosis and Enthronement of Enoch,” p. 156; “Jacob the Divine,” p. 366; “The Enthronement of Moses, p. 388; “King David is Crowned in Heaven,” p. 395; and “The Enthronement of the Messiah,” p. 487.
Sources:
Hekhalot Rabbati f. 852; Zohar 2:135a-b; Or Zaru’a 236; Seder Rabbah de-Bereshit, Oxford Bodleian Ms. 1531, ff. 849-52.
Studies:
The Sabbath in the Classical Kabbalah by Elliot K. Ginsburg.
395. THE SABBATH BRIDE
Every seventh day her coronation takes place. Before the start of the ceremony, the dwelling place is prepared like the chamber of a Bridegroom set to receive his Bride. Meanwhile, the Bride herself remains alone, separated from the forces of evil. There she adorns herself with a crown for the Holy King, and prepares herself for their union. Then, as the Sabbath begins, the radiant Bride is escorted by angels on high and Israel below, and she is ushered into Israel’s abode, to be in their midst. There she is crowned by the prayers of the holy people, and they, in turn, are adorned with new souls, so that they all are united above and below.
This describes a mythical ceremony that is part coronation and part wedding between God and His Bride, the Shekhinah. The union, clearly intended to be understood as a sexual union, between God and His Bride, comes close to portraying them as independent mythic beings. This one passage from the Zohar can be subjected to many interpretations. It might be viewed as a union between two of the ten sefirot, those representing the marriage of the King and His Bride. At the same time, it is also an enthronement myth as well as a wedding. This heavenly ceremony is paralleled on earth by the ritual of Kabbalat Shabbat, going out to greet the Sabbath Queen at the beginning of the Sabbath. The Ari and his followers wore white, and left the city of Safed to go out into the fields to welcome the Sabbath Queen. Thus heaven turns to earth and earth to heaven, and they meet in a rare union of peace, which is the Sabbath. See the next entry, “Greeting the Sabbath Queen.”
Sources:
Zohar 2:131b, 2:135a-b, 3:300b-301a.
Studies:
“The Aspect of the ‘Feminine’ in the Lurianic Kabbalah” by Yoram Jacobson. “Coronation of the Sabbath Bride: Kabbalistic Myth and the Ritual of Androgynisation” by Elliot R. Wolfson.
396. GREETING THE SABBATH QUEEN
It was the custom of some of the rabbis to greet the Sabbath Queen. Just before the sun set on the Sabbath, Rabbi Haninah would wrap himself in his robe, stand up, and say, “Come, let us go to greet the Sabbath Queen.” So too did Rabbi Yannai put on his festive garments on the eve of the Sabbath and say, “Come, O Bride! Come, O Bride!”
And every Sabbath eve, at sunset, the Ari led his students to greet the Sabbath Queen as she descended the rolling hills outside of Safed. When they arrived at the hills, they began to sing the songs greeting the Sabbath Queen. And the melodies of those songs were carried upward on the wings of prayer, and formed a beautiful garland of prayers that the Sabbath Queen carried with her as she descended from on high. Many were those who saw them leaving Safed, every one dressed in white, and later saw them returning, singing Sabbath songs.
The Ari based the Sabbath ritual of Kabbalat Shabbat on the two talmudic accounts of rabbis welcoming the Sabbath Queen. This custom is echoed today on the Sabbath evening when, before reciting the last stanza of Lekhah Dodi, the congregation turns around to face the door of the synagogue and recites “Bo’i b’shalom” (“Come in peace”) while standing, thus welcoming the Sabbath Queen. The purpose of this ritual is to honor the Sabbath, which is ushered in at this point. Lekhah Dodi itself is a poem composed by Shlomo Alkabetz of the Ari’s circle, which celebrates the arrival of the Sabbath Queen on the Sabbath.
Sources:
B. Shabbat 119a; B. Bava Kama 32b; Divrei Yosef 226; Otzrot Hayim 129.
397. THE SECOND SOUL
All the souls of Israel are crowned on the eve of the Sabbath. For every Sabbath God gives the children of Israel an additional soul, a celestial soul, a holy spirit more sublime than any other, brimming over with blessing, with song and jubilation drawn from on high. When one of these spirits is present, a person’s power of understanding is greatly increased. And this additional soul remains throughout the Sabbath. Indeed, the name of this soul is “Sabbath,” because Sabbath rest and peace are a foretaste of the World
to Come.
Some say these extra souls bloom forth from the Tree of Life, while others say that they are the offspring of the Shekhinah, who descends and spreads Her wings over Israel, forming a canopy of peace as She watches over them, sheltering them as a mother bird does her fledglings. As the Shekhinah hovers over them, wings outstretched, She brings forth new souls for each and every person. As this spirit descends, it bathes in the spices of the Garden of Eden and then settles upon the holy people of Israel. With the arrival of this Sabbath-soul all sadness and anger disappear, and joy reigns above and below.
All during the Sabbath day the extra spirit dwells within, enchanting a person’s soul. But on Saturday night, when three stars have appeared, the Sabbath soul flies forth and returns to its place on high.
The second soul that arrives on the Sabbath is the neshamah yeterah. Linkage between this second soul and the presence of the Shekhinah on the Sabbath is found in Sefer ha-Bahir, as well as in the Zohar, where the Shekhinah is identified as the dwelling place of the soul. The extra soul can be seen as the inner recognition of the presence, or immanence, of God, the inner experience of the Shekhinah. This myth confirms the great sense of holiness observant Jews experience in performing their rituals, a sense of the sacred that is virtually palpable.
There is a special ceremony for the end of the Sabbath known as Havdalah, which includes the smelling of fragrant spices (to revive a person who has just lost his second soul), that symbolizes the great reluctance to see the Sabbath end. In fact, some Hasidim delayed performing Havdalah as long as possible—until midnight or even later, although it is supposed to be said at the end of the Sabbath when three stars can be seen in the sky. One Hasidic sect even delayed saying Havdalah until Wednesday, and then started making immediate plans to prepare for the next Sabbath.
In B’nei Yisakhar, Rabbi Tzvi Elimelekh’s mystical commentary on the Sabbath, he develops a theory about the place of the Sabbath in the worlds above and below, the worlds of God and humanity, and of the interaction between the two. Here he describes the arrival of the second soul as kindling the inner light that comes with the Sabbath.
Zohar 1:60a states that every Tzaddik (righteous man) has two souls, one in this world and one in the world to come. This is a variant of the concept of the Sabbath soul, but unlike the neshamah yeterah that departs at the end of the Sabbath, this second, heavenly soul continues to exist at all times. This notion of a second, heavenly soul was drawn upon by the Lubavitch movement to explain how their human Rebbe could also be the divine Messiah. See “The Descent of the Messiah’s Soul,” p. 486. Zohar 1:78b identifies these two souls as levels of the soul, and in fact there are five recognized levels of the soul, three tied to the earthly body and two higher souls. The three earthly souls are known as nefesh (the animal soul), ruah (breath or spirit), and neshamah (soul). The higher levels are hayah (which gazes upon God) and yehidah (which is bound to God). A further discussion of the three earthly souls can be found in Midrash ha-Ne’elam, Zohar Hadash 17c-d. Zohar 1:78b also interprets the fact that God often calls righteous men twice—as “Abraham, Abraham” (Gen. 22:11), “Jacob, Jacob” (Gen. 46:2), or “Moses, Moses” (Exod. 3:4)—as an indication of His addressing these two primary souls, the higher and the lower.
See “Why Women Light Two Candles on the Sabbath,” p. 318, which links the lighting of the Sabbath candles with the second soul.
Sources:
B. Betzah 15b-16a; B. Ta’anit 27b; Sefer ha-Bahir 57, 158; Or Zaru’a Ms. Paris Hebr. 596, fol. 35a; Perush ha-Aggadot, pp. 35-45; Zohar 1:48a, 1:60a, 1:78b, 2:88a-b, 2:135a-b, 2:204a-b, 3:173a; Tikkunei ha-Zohar; B’nei Yisakhar 6:4;Shivhei ha-Ran 9; Tkhine imrei Shifreh, attributed to Shifrah Segal of Brody; Sod ha-Shabbat 22-23.
Studies:
The Jewish Sabbath: A Renewed Encounter by Pinchas H. Peli, pp. 87-92, 133-155.
398. THE SOULS OF THE DEAD ON THE SABBATH
Every Sabbath the dead rise from their graves and come before God. There is a brook that flows from the Garden of Eden, and by the side of this brook, a field. On every Sabbath eve, between the afternoon and evening prayers, the souls of the dead go forth from their secret abode and drink from this brook.
When the evening prayers begin, the dead return to their graves, and God revives them, and causes them all to stand on their feet, alive. Then great multitudes come before God and sing praises to Him, and go into synagogues, where they prostrate themselves before God.
This myth of the revival of the dead concerns the souls of the righteous who make their home in the Garden of Eden. Here the dead are described as making their homes in their graves, while in other sources the souls of the dead leave their graves for good within a year after they have died. The strange wandering of the souls of the dead on the Sabbath (and, according to some sources, the new moon) derives from the interpretation of the biblical verse: The people of the land shall worship before the Lord on Sabbaths and new moons (Ezek. 46:3). Even the souls being punished in Gehenna are released for the duration of the Sabbath. See “Sabbath in Gehenna,” p. 238. In the Ezekiel verse “the people of the land” (am ha-aretz) is interpreted to refer to “those hidden in the earth,” i.e., the dead, instead of the more obvious meaning of “the common people.” Note that the revival of the dead in this myth is not identical with the resurrection of the dead that is to take place in the messianic era. This revival is temporary, and ends with the end of the Sabbath, while that of the messianic era is permanent. The fate of the righteous on the Sabbath is different, however. B. Berakhot 18a states that “In their death, the righteous are called living.” And in B. Ketubot 103a it is said that after his death Rabbi Judah ha-Nasi used to visit his earthly home at twilight on every Sabbath, wearing his best clothes, and recited Kiddush for his family like a living person.
Sources:
B. Berakhot 18a; B. Ketubot 103a; Sefer Hasidim 1129; Sefer ha-Zikhronot 19:1-3, 19:4.
399. THE SOUL IN THE GARDEN OF EDEN
When Jews keep the Sabbath, their souls enter the Garden of Eden. Together with the pure souls and the souls of the righteous that inhabit that realm, the soul of the Jew delights in the light of the Garden and feels the bliss emanating from the radiance of supernal love. In this way the soul enjoys the bliss of Paradise that the Sabbath brings.
This supernal bliss is felt both within and without the body, and is drawn into this world. Indeed, the flavor of the Sabbath is even absorbed into the food that is tasted on that day. That is why it is said: “We have a certain spice; Sabbath is its name. Whoever keeps the Sabbath is affected by it and whoever does not keep the Sabbath is not affected by it.”
On the Sabbath, Jewish souls are said to ascend to Gan Eden, the Garden of Eden, which is already inhabited by the “pure souls”—that is, souls in the garden that never participated in the tasting of the forbidden fruit—as well as the souls of the righteous who make their home there. While the body of the Jew celebrating the Sabbath is on earth, his or her soul is in heaven, for Gan Eden refers to the celestial Paradise. This explains why the Sabbath meal has such an exceptional flavor and why the Sabbath itself is a delight.
Sources:
B. Shabbat 119; Hovat ha-Talmidim.
400. GOD’S DAUGHTER
The Sabbath is God’s daughter, begotten by God alone, without begetting—brought to birth, but not carried in the womb.
The Sabbath said before God: “Master of the Universe! You have given a mate to everyone except me. Each of the days of the week has a mate, but I have none.” God replied: “The people of Israel are your mate.”
And when Israel stood before Mount Sinai, Moses saw that the Sabbath was lovely, and that she was a virgin. With his keener vision, he saw the marvelous beauty of the Sabbath stamped upon heaven and earth, and enshrined in nature itself.
Here Philo offers an allegory in which the Sabbath is described as God’s daughter. The purpose of the allegory is to indicate the importance of the Sabbath to God and to the people of Israel, who
observe the Sabbath. Later rabbinic and kabbalistic development linked the Sabbath with the figure of the Sabbath Queen, one of the personifications of the Shekhinah. Such developments also identified the Shekhinah as God’s Bride. Thus Philo’s identification of the Sabbath as God’s daughter may be seen to prefigure later mythic developments found in Sefer ha-Bahir, where the Shekhinah is portrayed as “Daughter, Sister, Wife, and Mother,” as the title of Peter Schäfer’s article puts it, and in the Zohar and other kabbalistic texts. In Philo’s version of the myth, God gives the Sabbath to Israel the way a father gives away his daughter at her wedding.
See “The Creation of the Shekhinah,” p. 47.
Sources:
Philo, De Specialibus Legibus 2:56-58; Philo, De Vita Mosis 2:210; Genesis Rabbah 11:8; Akedat Yitzhak 4; Pesikta Rabbati 23:6.
Studies:
“Daughter, Sister, Bride, and Mother: Images of the Femininity of God in the Early Kabbala” by Peter Scháfer.
The Sabbath in the Classical Kabbalah by Elliot K. Ginsburg.
401. GOD GUIDES MOSES IN PRAYER
Early in the morning Moses went to Mount Sinai as the Lord had commanded him, and took in his hand two tablets of stone. Yahweh came down in a cloud; He stood with him there, and proclaimed the name Yahweh (Exod. 34:5). And God drew His robe around Him like the reader of a congregation and showed Moses the order of prayer, and taught him the Thirteen Attributes of God. And Moses made haste, and bowed his head toward the earth, and worshipped (Exod. 34:8).
The biblical account of God descending to Moses is amplified and transformed in the Talmud, where God is described drawing His robe around Him as was the custom of the reader in a congregation. This image grows out of the fact that the Thirteen Attributes of God are incorporated into the prayer service, and the meeting of God and Moses on the top of Mount Sinai is here transformed into the terms and perspective of the synagogue or house of study, where God shows Moses the order of the prayers, and explains His own Thirteen Attributes to him. The biblical passage itself is a daring one, with God coming down to earth as did the pagan gods. The talmudic addition humanizes it further, portraying God in the role of a rabbi/teacher or even a fellow congregant.
Tree of Souls Page 71