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SHEMINI - SPIRITUAL SIGNS OF PURE LAND ANIMALS

Avoidance of the consumption of impure land animals is in the Torah's perspective a prerequisite for purity. Eating an impure animal ruptures the spiritual relationship between the Jew and his Creator. The Talmud teaches that Moshe needed to be shown the various categories of permitted and forbidden animals. 1 The Shelah asserts that Moshe wanted to understand the reason behind the legislation seeing that all animals are the handiwork of the Creator. He was thereby shown the respective spiritual source of each category within the animal kingdom in the higher regions. 2 It is surely beneficial that we also attempt to pierce this code to get an understanding of the spiritual differences between the pure and the impure animals.

THE SPIRITUAL SOURCE OF THE ANIMALS

According to R. HaAri - all land animals emanate from the spiritual source known as the five Gevurot or Severities in the celestial world that ultimately descend into the spiritual reservoir known as the Shekhina 3 (You might know of these Gevurot from a different context when we take the five Aravot on Hoshana Rabbah hitting the ground five times chanting "Strike, strike but without a blessing.") 4 The determination of what kind of divine supervision is sent into our world is dependent upon the nature of Gevurot that descend into the Divine Reservoir. The Gevurot which are spiritually expressed here by Divine Names of YHVH - are optimistically to be mitigated by five associated Hasadim which are also expressed by the Divine Names of YHVH - Each of which are manifested in their numerical value of twenty six. 5 When this occurs - purity ideally will envelope the soul of the activator as well as cascade down into the celestial worlds via the Shekhina who spiritually distributes such purity. In stage one of this spiritual process up in the highest world, the three upper Severities are always sweetened by the three revealed Hasadim or Mercies in their descent. R. HaAri explains that each combination here of Severity (26 numerical value) with Mercy (26 numerical value) in stage one form to complete one Ben - son spelled Bet Nun with a numerical value of 52. These combinations are called the three Banim. The second stage sees the two lower Severities remain unsweetened. In stage three - these two Severities are sweetened during an ascent of the Hasadim back above. The first three Banim which have been sweetened by descending Mercies will be joined with the final two Severities which independently combine to form the fourth and final Ben numerically -52 as they are sweetened by ascending Mercies. All of this in the secret of the four Banim or sons mentioned in the Haggadah. As it says Keneged Arbaah Banim Dibera Torah - The fourth and final stage in the process is the descent of the five Gevurot into the reservoir where they influence the nature of the divine supervision taking shape. 6

KOSHER SIGN - CHEWING ITS CUD

When land animals display one of the two kosher signs of chewing it's cud, they reflect a spiritual source rooted in one aspect of purity. Namely in stage three where the final two Gevurot or Severities that have received sweetening via the ascent of the Hasadim or Mercies. These as we noted combine to form the fourth Ben son numerically 52. This is reflected in the given Torah code called MaAleh Gerah - literally "MaAleh" or An ascent" of these last two Gevurot which form the final Ben to unite with the upper Banim to form Gerah - spelled Gimmal Resh Heh with the numerical value of 208. In other words the uniting of all of these sweetened Gevurot 4 x 52 Ben or the four sons which allow the physical expression of MaAleh Gerah "the ascent of the 208" or the chewing of the cud in the animal. 7

KOSHER SIGN - COMPLETELY SPLIT HOOVES

The second sign of purity as noted in our Parasha is fully cleft hooves - the biblical expression includes Kol Maphreset Parsah. R. HaAri explains that the spiritual root of a land animal expressing this sign can be seen in the four letter word Peh Resh Samakh Heh or Parsah - The first part of the word Par is numerically 280 and is known to be a reflection of the five Gevurot or Severities called MaNSePaKH the five final letters of the Hebrew alphabet also numerically 280. The second part of the word is Sah which has the numerical value of 65 and is synonymous with the Divine Name of ADNY - the name associated with the spiritual reservoir known as the Shekhina. When we see a land animal displaying the physical sign of Maphreset Parsah - it is a reflection of the fourth and final stage whereby the five Gevurot (280) Par associated with its spiritual root has descended into its place in the reservoir (65) Sah without any deficiency or spiritual negativity attaching to them. 8

LAND ANIMALS WITH ONLY ONE SIGN OF PURITY

When the two lower Gevurot or Severities have been properly sweetened via the ascent of the Hasadim - the one sign of MaAleh Gerah is expressed in the animal with this spiritual root. This is reflected and noted in the Torah as is displayed in the camel, hyrax and hare. 9 Their spiritual root however was blemished in that the Gevurot have no ability to descend into the spiritual reservoir without being subject to the attachment of the negative forces. The pig on the other hand the Torah describes as unique 10 in that it displays the split Parsah -where the five Gevurot have descended into the reservoir without reservation. However, the final two Gevurot had not been sweetened by the ascending Hasadim and thereby had been subject to the attachment of negativity. 11  It calls out and claims I am pure 12 in that its Severities have descended! However a closer look reveals that if consumed the eater will be subject to the impurity of unsweetened severities. Hence, both of these categories of land animals are considered impure and are not available for consumption by Israel.

CONSUMPTION AND PURITY

It is obvious that this legislation expressed in Shemini and later on in Re'eh is founded upon the spiritual root of each category of species. The same source in the writings of R. HaAri reveals the spiritual root of the beasts, birds and fish. We must be careful to only ingest that which is permitted in order to remain in a state of spiritual purity. If not we cause not only impurity within our own selves but also in the type of Gevurot that descend into the spiritual reservoir. We noted at the beginning of the essay ; that refraining from impure food consumption is a prerequisite to purity.13 We should merit to only "Eat in front of Hashem". Taking the verse literally when it says  "They ate and drank and had a vision of the Divine.” 14

Shabbat Shalom

Victor Bibi
 

Victor Bibi