Daily Zohar # 2504 – Ekev – ‘Lighten’ up your meals
Daily Zohar 2504
Daily Zohar 2504
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Hebrew translation:
31. וַעֲשָׂרָה דְבָרִים צָרִיךְ אָדָם לַעֲשׂוֹת בִּסְעוּדָה: אֶחָד – נְטִילַת יָדַיִם. שֵׁנִי – לְתַקֵּן שְׁתֵּי כִּכְּרוֹת לְשַׁבָּת. שְׁלִישִׁי – לֶאֱכֹל שָׁלֹשׁ סְעוּדוֹת, וּלְהוֹסִיף מֵחֹל עַל הַקֹּדֶשׁ. רְבִיעִי – לְהָאִיר אֶת הַשֻּׁלְחָן בְּנֵר, כְּמוֹ שֶׁבֵּאֲרוּהָ, שֻׁלְחָן בַּצָּפוֹן וּמְנוֹרָה בַדָּרוֹם. וְצָרִיךְ הֲסִבָּה, כְּמוֹ שֶׁבֵּאֲרוּהָ, הֵסֵבּוּ – אֶחָד מְבָרֵךְ לְכֻלָּם.
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Zohar Ekev
#30
The sages say that the Tree of Knowledge that Adam ate from was of wheat, ‘חטה’. He brought the ח and ט that are the aspects of chaff and straw to the ה that is Malchut and ‘contaminate’ her because the ח and ט spell ‘sin’. The two Klipot represented by the chaff and straw is like the two Klipot covering the penis (Yessod) of the child before circumcision. They are removed to reveal the Y י of Yessod to have a pure channel of light and life. These Klipot shouldn’t be allowed to connect to the H ה of Malchut, that is, the vessel/ female aspect. Man is ‘איש’ and woman ‘אשה’. The man has the Y י and the woman has H ה. A connection between man and woman should be pure to channel pure light into creating life.
The bread brought for the blessings of Hamotzi should look good and be properly baked. The blessings should also be proper to make a higher level connection of the Y י and the H .ה The process of baking and blessings is the aspect of Vו, Zeir Anpin that connects the Y י and the H ה of the YHVH name for the complete revelation of light.
#31
Ten things to do during a meal.
The Zohar begins here to teach us about ten things that we should do to make our meals complete. (This subject will be discussed over the following few DZs).
1. Prepare a table that gives honor to the ‘King’. It means that it should be special and better than the one we prepare during the weekdays.
2. Washing our hands before the meal. The two hands have ten fingers for the Ten Sefirot and the ten sayings of the action of Creation. “And God said let there be….”
The fingers have 14 joints each and together, 28 as the number of letters in the first verse of the Torah and the numerical value of the for כח ‘force’.
During the blessing of the hand washing, which is called “Netilat Yadayim”, we raise our hands above the level of the eyes to connect to the upper realm and draw from that special ‘force’.
3. Make three meals on Shabbat to add holiness above the weekdays.
4. Light candles on the table. The sages taught us that in the Holy Temple, the table was in the north and the Menorah in the south. The north is Gevurah and the south is Chessed. The light on the table is the aspect of connecting the Light to food, Chessed to Gevurah. We bring the light to the table by doing the blessings and studying. The table should be by people around it to remove the selfish aspect that exists while eating. A poor guest is very important, especially when there’s a holiday or special event to celebrate.
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