This week's reading is twofold: Vaiakhel (gathered) and Pekudei (counts). Both parashot speak primarily of the practical construction of the Mishkan, the portable Temple that the Jewish people used during their journey through the desert.
Depending on the year, whether it's a leap year or not, these sections are read together or separately. This year, which is not a leap year, they are read together. Each matter, as we've mentioned many times, has a reason for being, and we should look for the hidden teaching behind it. What do we learn from the combination of these parashot?
A quick analysis reveals a contradiction: Vaiakhel means to gather, that is, to bring together many individuals, while Pekudéi means to count, that is, given a certain set, to separate its components and individualize them in order to know how many there are: they are two opposites! Given this, how is it that we combined both sections to read them on the same day?
One possible explanation is that, to a certain extent, both parashot are interdependent: you can only bring together something that is separate, and you can only separate something that is joined. Put another way, a set is the sum of the individuals that compose it. There is a particular, individual identity for each component, plus a group identity, and both identities depend on each other.
In the Jewish community, we can see this in the concept of the minyan, the quorum of at least ten men over the age of thirteen. Each individual in the minyan has his own identity, but when there are ten, a new minyan identity is created, enabling each member to recite specific parts of the prayer. Each individual is enriched by the group, and the group is formed by the sum of its members.
This idea is related to an innovation we began this week at Beit Chabad: improving the Shabbat Kiddush (sanctification) at midday. While we have always offered some food to fulfill the mitzvah of eating where one made Kiddush, from now on, thanks to the weekly contributions of the participants, we will all enjoy a (at least slightly) more substantial Kiddush.
Kiddush itself is a moment when a table is shared with friends and acquaintances. Through each individual's participation and contribution, regardless of monetary value, these separate components (Pekudéi), gathered around a table, form a community (Vaiakhel).
Shalom, the text on the Union of Opposites was very interesting; I enjoyed it very much. The new year is almost here, and tomorrow at sunset, Rosh Hashanah, I wish you all a happy and prosperous new year. I'm sharing something that happened to me related to symbolism and Kabbalah... in case you'd like to read it.
My name is José Alba Jiménez Sánchez and I was born on a New Moon Tuesday, July 3, 1973 (03-07-1973) at 10 pm when it was starting to get dark in Murcia, Spain. In the summer of 2014, I met a family who were spending their holidays in Murcia. I was having coffee in a café, and they were near me at the next table. I overheard their conversation about topics I'm very interested in: symbolism, religion, astrology, ancient cultures, spirituality, philosophy… I approached them, and we struck up a friendship. Afterward, we went to their hotel room so they could draw up my birth chart for free, with no financial interest involved. This couple are Freemasons and originally from Argentina. When they drew up my birth chart, they told me that my chart and my birth were full of symbolic and spiritual signs. I told them, like everyone else, but they said no, that this was something special. The truth is, I don't really like being flattered, and even though I have many planets in Leo in my birth chart, I'm not proud. I don't like to feel or believe I'm superior to others, and the truth is, I'm nothing special. I'm just an ordinary person. They told me, besides… The reading of the letter, as well as the secrecy and symbolism it contains, were written down for me on a sheet of paper so I could remember it. Here I detail them: ,
-My birth chart has a curious pyramid shape.
-I was told that I was born on a Tuesday, the third day of creation counting from Sunday (Jewish calendar), and that in Genesis it is considered the only twice-good day, and that according to the Sefer Yetzirah, Tuesday belongs to the sun and the right nostril, the day of the creation of nature. Regarding the letter of Tuesday, I thought it would be Gimel, being the third day, but I have verified that it belongs to the letter Dalet (Gate).
I was told that on June 30, 1973, three days before I was born, there was a total solar eclipse lasting 7 minutes and 30 seconds, but they didn't explain the significance of being born on the third day after a total solar eclipse and its consequences. I forgot to ask. I searched online and found that the Concorde supersonic airliner followed the eclipse, a kind of cruise that lasted 73 minutes.
They told me that my surname Alba (dawn, twilight, the rebirth of the sun, the color white, whiteness) and having been born at 10:10 PM when the sun sets (the concealment, darkness, west, sunset, threshold) is like an exchange, a contrast, an opposite. They also said that my region, Murcia, belongs to the astrological sign of Virgo and is also known as the Levante (where the sun rises). They said that my region of Murcia is at latitude 37° and that the Romans gave it the etymological name Myrtus, after the goddess of the myrtle (the myrtle plant was also used in rituals to Yahweh with three myrtle branches). The goddess of the myrtle is Venus (Asherah, Astarte, Ishtar, Semiramis…), the morning star, a planet illuminated by the sun, similar to a star, also known as the morning star, bearer of light and wisdom. On the evening at sunset, and just as there is the Venus de Milo, there is also the Venus of Murcia. I don't know if it's also a coincidence that they used the name of the Murcian beer Estrella del Levante, brewed since 1963. It could be symbolically representing Venus. The other day I noticed, since the brewery is a kilometer from my house, that the beer's logo is a 5-pointed star, like a pentagram pointing upwards. For the Hebrew people, Murcia was etymologically known as Morsayas (God the Goldsmith). The Calle Platería, where the Jewish (Hebrew) people made gold and silversmithing work, is still preserved in the capital. For the Arab people, it was known as Mursah (fortified wall), similar to the wall of Jerusalem. The international meeting "Sepharad in the Diaspora 1492-2010" was also held in Murcia, 3 kilometers from my house.
– I was told that my sun sign Cancer represents the past and my ascendant Aquarius the future, a connection of the past and the future, and that my sun and moon also exchange each other, my sun in Cancer representing the moon, and in my moon is Leo representing the sun, a kind of marriage as if they were looking at each other face to face.
-They told me that I am filled with some very special and spiritual numbers 3, 7, 10, 22… , the numbers 3 and 7 also oppose each other like a vice versa and that my Jewish date is the 3 (Gimel) Tammuz of the year 5733 and the number 33 is the star of David the two opposing triangles fused from the earth to the masculine sky and from the sky to the feminine earth, the number 3 (triangle) and the number 19 of (1973) the 19th arcanum in the Egyptian tarot is the radiant sun known as inspiration the philosopher's stone and is represented with the drawing of air at the top and followed by a sun with 7 rays the drawing of a man (masculine) and a woman (feminine) and below 3 flowers on or above the water.
My birth chart is composed of the elements Water, Air, and Fire, and I was told that these three elements are the alchemical principle and are described in the book Sefer Yezirath, the Book of Creation. I have my sun in Cancer, which is feminine, and everything else is fire and air, masculine.
-(Tammuz is the tenth month counting from the month of Tishrei, which is the month of creation, and the fourth month if counted from Nisan, the month of the exodus from Egypt)
-I've been researching the date 3 Gimel Tammuz and I've discovered that it's a very significant date in Judaism:
3 Tammuz: the liberation of the sixth Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak Schneerson, and also the day of the passing of the seventh Lubavitcher Rebbe, Menachem Mendel Schneerson, the Korach, and also the day the sun did not set on the horizon (On the same date, 3 Tammuz, several centuries earlier, Joshua, the successor of Moses, was in the midst of a battle against the Amorites. He offered a prayer: “Let the sun stand still over Gibeon”)
I was told that my surnames Jiménez and Sánchez are Sephardic Jewish. Jiménez is derived from Simón (month AV, left ear), the one who has listened to God, and Sánchez is derived from Aarón (Levite priests), the warrior lion.
I arranged to meet with them two days later because they told me they had found more things to tell me about my birth, but when I arrived they weren't at the hotel. They said they had rushed out due to an unexpected family matter in their country. I asked for their phone numbers and address at the hotel, but they said it was impossible because they couldn't give them out; it's not hotel policy to provide personal information about their guests. And the truth is, I was quite impressed and left wanting more after what they told me about my letter, and I wanted to ask what they thought of it, their opinion. Are they spiritual signs, coincidences, or simply nothing? I honestly see some similarities, syncretisms, coincidences. I discussed it with a friend who understands a little, but not much, and he said he found it strange that the people I met were Freemasons. My friend also said he wouldn't be surprised if, even though they didn't charge me anything at first, they almost certainly had intentions... Doing it the next day... I have doubts, to be honest. I've verified most of the things and they're true. It's strange that so many opposites appear and seem to meet, but I don't know what this leads to. Even if there are some coincidences, I don't think they have any relevance to any specific matter. I'm posting this in case you could shed some light on this issue, as it has me very intrigued. I've been investigating a bit and found a small, vague numerical coincidence at the end of a Hasidic page about the sefirot Chokhmah (Wisdom).
Chokhmah has a numerical value (normal gematria) of 73 (the 22nd prime number). In ordinal numerals, chokhmah = 37 (the midpoint of 73; the 13th prime number). In small numerals, chokhmah = 19 (the midpoint of 37; the 9th prime number; 9 plus 13 = 22). The final small number of chokhmah is 1.
The complete numerical value of the first verse of Creation: “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth” = 2701 = the sum of all numbers from 1 to 73 (i.e., the “triangle of 73“) = 37 times 73. The last part of the verse, ”and the earth” = 703 = the sum of all numbers from 1 to 37 = 19 times 37. ,
I hope that this writing doesn't make you think I'm a narcissist or that I think I'm chosen or anything like that. Because I'm not, nor do I consider myself to be, an envoy, a prophet, chosen one, or anything of the sort.
A friend who understands a bit about astrology told me that I also have a fixed astrological cross in my birth chart composed of Taurus-Scorpio and Leo-Aquarius. I don't have any planets in Taurus or Scorpio, but I think it will come from the astrological houses and the Midheaven, which I believe is in Scorpio. I will have to expand my knowledge of astrology. What he did tell me is that the fixed astrological cross is related to the Caduceus of Hermes, a unification between the four elements (Taurus Earth, He; Scorpio Water, Yod; Leo Fire, Vau; Aquarius Air, He), or as some explain it, Taurus the calf, the lion, the eagle for Scorpio, and man for Aquarius, like a winged sphinx or the four-faced angels of Ezekiel in the Merkaba (Mer Ka Ba).
I have my doubts. I don't know if I was really impressed and if these people were just flattering me. For me, all numbers are special and part of a whole, and each one is necessary for the others, although some stand out more. They are all important, and you can perfectly well do a breakdown of anyone's birth chart, telling them they are special, because you will always find something special in the coincidences. All numbers and signs have their virtue, especially if you look for hidden meanings. And I think that at birth, when it starts at dusk on the 3rd, in Judaism it would already belong to the 4th, and I think that the moon, instead of being new, might be almost waxing. I don't know; I'll have to check.
I recognize that by researching my birthdate, I'm partly doing the same thing they did to me, finding parallels and syncretisms. It might seem like I'm feeding my ego, but that's not the case; it's more out of curiosity. At the same time, it has helped me broaden my knowledge on certain topics. Although the subject is related to astrology, I give more importance to its symbolic and philosophical character than to its divinatory aspects. I'm very grateful to these people who claimed to be Freemasons, because thanks to them, I've become more interested in Kabbalah. And although I'm not a Freemason, I like its foundations, its principles, and the values it promotes: Liberty and Equality. As for religion, I see it as a symbolic and metaphorical concept for personal self-realization, for becoming a better person and aligning oneself with the universe and the Almighty Creator, but without falling into fundamentalism or religious fanaticism.
Greetings and a big hug and a happy new year Rosh Hashanah 5777 and may Hashem bless you