Daily Zohar # 1599 – Shoftim – The Sword
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Hebrew translation:
2. מִצְוָה אַחַר זוֹ – לָדוּן בְּסַיִף, לָדוּן בְּחֶנֶק, לָדוּן בְּדִין סְקִילָה, לָדוּן בְּדִין שְׂרֵפָה. לָדוּן בְּסַיִף לְמִי? לְסָמָאֵ”ל. זֶהוּ שֶׁכָּתוּב (ישעיה לד) כִּי רִוְּתָה בַשָּׁמַיִם חַרְבִּי הִנֵּה עַל אֱדוֹם תֵּרֵד.
3. חֶרֶב שֶׁל הַקָּדוֹשׁ בָּרוּךְ הוּא – י’ רֹאשׁ הַחֶרֶב, ו’ גּוּף הַחֶרֶב, הֵ”א הֵ”א שְׁתֵּי פִיפִיּוֹת שֶׁלָּהּ. צֶדֶק צֶדֶק תִּרְדֹּף, חוֹתְכִים שְׁנֵי דִינִים, דִּין מִפִּי בֵּית דִּין שֶׁל מַעְלָה וְדִין מִפִּי בֵּית דִּין שֶׁל מַטָּה. וּמִכָּאן נוֹדָע, אֵין אָדָם נוֹקֵף אֶצְבָּעוֹ מִלְּמַטָּה עַד שֶׁנִּתֶּנֶת לוֹ רְשׁוּת מִלְמַעְלָה.
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Deuteronomy 17:7
“וּבִעַרְתָּ הָרָע, מִקִּרְבֶּךָ”
“put away the evil from the midst of you ”
The word “וּבִעַרְתָּ” “put away” appears four times in the portion of Shoftim. The Zohar brings a discussion about four ways to kill the negativity Lord (Sama–el) with a Sword, Strangulation, and Stoning, and with Fire.
The Zohar quotes (Isaiah 34:5) “כִּי-רִוְּתָה בַשָּׁמַיִם, חַרְבִּי; הִנֵּה עַל-אֱדוֹם תֵּרֵד” “For My sword hath drunk its fill in heaven; behold, it shall come down upon Edom”. Sama-el is the minister (” שר “) of Edom.
The sword of God is built from the Name “יהוה”. The letter י is the head of the sword, the ו is the body and the two ה -s are the two sides of the blade.
There is a connection between the Shema Israel prayer and the sword of God. This prayer has four paragraphs, the first one has 42 words, the second with 72 words, the third with 50 words and the last one has 72 words. With the 12 words of the beginning (six of the Shema line and six of the Baruch Shem…), we have 248 words. All the words together have exactly 1000 letters.
The Shema prayer is the most powerful tool we have to destroy the negative side. Our sages teach us that when we do not have time to pray the whole Morning Prayer then we should at least say the Shema and the Amida (The silent prayer). The Shema destroys the negativity on our way to the higher spiritual level and the 18 blessings of the silent prayer get us to connect and draw the Light we need.
The Zohar above reveals to us that this sword (the Shema prayer) has the power to remove judgments coming from the upper court (Binah) or from the lower court (Malchut).
There is a recent (August 2014) story about IDF soldiers that went into a mosque in Gaza looking for rockets and weapons. A woman terrorist run toward them with intent to blow herself with them. She was about to push the trigger and one of the soldiers instinctively screamed “Shema Israel”. When the woman heard that, she froze and started shaking. The soldiers could hold her and disable the explosive. Later the woman revealed that her mother was Jewish that married a Palestinian.
The sages teach us that reciting the Shema Israel with our last breath of life cleanses the path from all negativity when the soul ascends up. It is good to recite the Shema before sleep to let the soul an easy ascend to higher spiritual level. The Shema protects the soul from being ‘stuck’ on the lower level where negative spirits may abuse the soul and ‘push’ wrong messages.
In the coming DZ studies, we will explain more on the four types of death.
The recording of the Shema linked below is 1 minute 51 second (151 numerically Mikveh. Total of 111 seconds equal אלף, פלא, ‘Alef’, ‘wonder’). You are free to download and distribute without changing the original. No limitation.
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