18 Aug Parshat Eikev; A Deep Revelation of Israel, The Land and Her People
Inspired by the teachings of HaRav Yitzchak Ginsburgh and Rabbi Moshe Genuth
And they shall make Me a holy [place], and I may dwell among them. (Exodus 25:8)
Every Hebrew letter has a corresponding number which represents only 1 -of- 9 categories of the deeper understandings of each Hebrew letter.
The Torah is completely unique in its deep numeric mathematical connections that reveal deeper meanings numerically than the superficial (literal) words themselves. Numbers (Gematria) are more pure than words.
In Parshas Eikev, we see revealed through a brief gematria, a deeper hidden meaning regarding one of the bond of the Jewish People to the Land of Israel. Rav Yitzchak Ginsburgh brings down the following:
In the verses Duet.8:7-10 referring to ‘The Land and People of Israel’ there are 203 letters. 203 is the numerical value of the second word in the Torah, barah “created.” The letters of the word barah; beit, reish, alef, are also the first three letters of the first word of the Torah, bereishit. The fact that this unit has barah = 203 letters points us clearly in the direction of the creation of the world, and particularly to the first day of creation, where the word barah first appears. In the entire account of the six days of creation, God’s Name, Elokim (whose numerical value 86 = h’tevah = “nature,”) is written 32 times.
In Kabbalah we learn that the inner essence of God’s Name, Elokim– which represents nature — is God’s essential Name, Havayah (the tetragrammaton Y * V * ). The relation between Havayah and Elokim is expressed in Psalms (84:12): “Havayah Elokim is the sun and its shield.”God’s essential Name, Havayah is likened to the sun while Elokim is referred to as the shield of the sun. The essence of the sun, the infinite lights of God’s essential Name, Havayah, are concealed by the shield of nature.
Within each of the 32 times that Elokim is written in creation, Havayah (Y * V * numerical value of 26) is at its inner core. 32 times 26 equals 832, the numerical value of Eretz Yisrael. This gematria of Elokim X Havayah = 832 is the essence of our meditation and the essence of Hashem at the core of the Land of Israel. The beauty of nature (Elokim) concentrated in Eretz Yisrael reflects God’s purpose for creating the world. The mission of the Jewish People is to unite with the Land of Israel and to reflect God’s essential, infinite light concealed within the Land to all creation.
(Rav Y. Ginsburgh; The Supernal Crown)
Parshas Eikev revisits the 2nd paragraph of the Shema p2; ‘And it will be, if you will diligently obey My commandments which I enjoin upon you this day, to love the L-rd your Gd and to serve Him with all your heart and with all your soul, I will give.. ‘all that you need to be sated… so that your days and the days of your children may be prolonged on the land which the L-rd swore to your fathers togive to them for as long as the heavens are above the earth.
Israel as The Holy Land is synonymous with the Torah phrase ‘to make a place for Him to dwell’ meaning there is an intimate spiritual and physical connection between the Land and Her People.
When the People of the Nation of Israel become elevated and rectified so to does The Land. The Torah is clear as to the requirements of the Nation inhabiting the Land (as we see in the Shema as above). The Holiness and rectified possession of the Land remains ‘in potential’ of a rectified occupation and rectified service to G-d in order that the Land and Her People are as One rectified People and Nation, and that G-d will have a place to dwell.. a Temple and Mashiach in the rectified Holy Land. Accordingly this would require the evolution and eventual transformation of Israeland Her people to a Torah State.
We often see the word ‘shalom’ often translated as ‘peace’ (in our davening). An example, one of many occurrences is ‘Blessed are You, Hashem, who blesses His people Israel with peace’. when we daven for peace, it is not simply for the cessation of war or anti-Semitism.
Although ‘shalom’ may be translated as ‘peace’, it is often poor translation. Colloquially peace is more likely to mean cessation of war or absence of chaos. The more appropriate Hebrew translation of ‘shalom’ is ‘complete or whole’, as it pertains to a rectified, unified state. We would then translate the example of the previous blessing as ‘Blessed are You, Hashem, who blesses His people Israel with completion’, a blessing that indicates a state that merits the Final Redemption and Mashiach.
Leib Getzel (Lawrence) Lax
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