New Backyard Professor video from Kerry Shirts

[volgadon]

Ok thanks, and thanks for the link to the article! Please forgive my previous thick skulled density- I get what you have been saying now, and I see now how it really seems to be incompatible with what Kerry is talking about.

But then I found this:

And now I am totally confused!

This seems to take it at least down the road that Leets has taken- but as usual I don't know enough to be able to tell if what Leets says is a total fabrication.

Could it be that others took it farther than Luria, even maybe after his death?

Interesting that you should mention the Lurianic Passover plate. Last year I arranged one that way, just for fun. Well, it iss the standard way in Israel.

I should have a picture of it somewhere.

Here is a diagram.

A major aspect of Luria's mystical work was to imbue the rituals of Sabbaths and holy days with their proper mystical and mythical meaning. That concern was shared by other circles of mystics in Safed. I find it interesting that the extant works penned by Luria are a few liturgical poems for each of the Sabbath feasts. Here is part of the one for Sabbath morning.

"I will lay out the feast on the morning of the Sabbath, and at this hour will invite to it the Ancient Holy One. His light will dwell in it in great holiness, and of the wine which delights the soul. He will send us his beauty and we will behold his glory, and he will show us his mystery, which is said in a whisper.

He will reveal unto us the meanings in the twelve loaves which are letters in his name, doubled letters and a weak one." By properly laying out the sabbath feast (ritual) the symbols invite God's presence, his light, and revelation. This of course has to be done with the proper intent, or as it expresses itself in Kabbalism, meditation on a certain principle. That is why certain passages from the Zohar and Luria's poems are recited. The twelve loaves are three pairs of four loaves, one pair for each meal. Each pair has two loaves representing "remember" and two for "keep." The idea of twelve loaves hearkens back to the twelve loaves of shewbread in the temple. Luria's arrangement of the loaves is as follows. A pair of two loaves is placed on the right side of the table, and another pair on the left. Another pair is placed under each. The remaining four loaves are placed in the middle, one set above the other. This results in a vertical line on the right of four loaves, another one on the left, and two horizontal lines in the middle.

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We now have four groups of "L"s. The top right-hand group stands for Y, the left-hand for W, and the two bottom ones for the two H's. Thus the Sabbath loaves spell out the name of God.

Returning to the layout of the Passover plate, there are actually ten components. Six food items, the plate, and three matzot. This represents the ten emanated aeons, or sefirot. One from the right, another from the left, one in the middle, another on the right, the left, the middle, and then four below them all. Again, this is showing a process emanating downwards. This isn't meant as a representation of creation per say. Luria had to work with what was present in the ritual in order to imbue it with meaning. We can see that thith the Sabbath loaves and with the Seder plate.

I've been enjoying this conversation, MFB.

[mfbukowski]

Wow!

Me too! Fascinating!

But it seems that here we have more shapes than a circle and line- indeed "L's"- and the earlier wikipedia quote I mentioned spoke of the arrangements in terms of triangles including Luria's thoughts on the Magen David

How does that square with the notion that there are only circles and lines?

Am I being dense again?? Or was Leets not as far off as we originally thought?

This is great stuff- I am definitely going to study this more. For me it illuminates temple symbolism- I think!

[volgadon]

Wow!

Me too! Fascinating!

But it seems that here we have more shapes than a circle and line- indeed "L's"- and the earlier wikipedia quote I mentioned spoke of the arrangements in terms of triangles including Luria's thoughts on the Magen David

How does that square with the notion that there are only circles and lines?

Am I being dense again?? Or was Leets not as far off as we originally thought?

This is great stuff- I am definitely going to study this more. For me it illuminates temple symbolism- I think!

It really is fascinating stuff, I agree. An essay I would highly recommend is Scholem's "Tradition and New Creation in the Ritual of the Kabbalists" which is part of his "On the Kabbalah and its Symbolism."

One of Luria's great achievements lay in transforming what were rituals of remembrance into living mythical actions. The rituals now had potency and immediacy.

The two examples, of the Passover plate and the twelve Sabbath loaves, are not Luria's prefered imagery for the process of creation. That was conceived of as circls, dots and lines. These other shapes were dictated by the need to turn the items already present into something new (not that Luria saw it in those terms).

[volgadon]

MFB, a book you would enjoy is Benzion Bokser's "From the World of the Cabbalah." It is a biography of sorts of R. Judah Loew of Prague, the Maharil, but really is more of an exploration of his thought. The Maharil is famous from later legends about him creating a golem to defend the Jews of Prague.

The real Maharil is far more fascinating. His thought combined mysticism and philosophy with a deep concern for the community. He lived in an age recoiling from scholasticism, so it is an interesting mix. A lot of his thought wouldn't be out of place in a Mormon context. You'll enjoy the book.

[mfbukowski]

MFB, a book you would enjoy is Benzion Bokser's "From the World of the Cabbalah." It is a biography of sorts of R. Judah Loew of Prague, the Maharil, but really is more of an exploration of his thought. The Maharil is famous from later legends about him creating a golem to defend the Jews of Prague.

The real Maharil is far more fascinating. His thought combined mysticism and philosophy with a deep concern for the community. He lived in an age recoiling from scholasticism, so it is an interesting mix. A lot of his thought wouldn't be out of place in a Mormon context. You'll enjoy the book.

Thanks! I'll look it up.

These discussions have really started me thinking about the whole relationship between language, mysticism, and ritual, and what is known as linguistic constructivism- basically the notion that we create "reality" culturally. I know most here think I am on the lunatic fringe about this, but if you understand the theories, I am really pretty mainstream.

When you think about it, every thing which we regard as "real" from chairs and tables to religious ritual and our notions of God, have come through and been interpreted by a human brain which in a very real way has given order to chaos- an attribute we usually ascribe to God. This is central to my understanding of how we participate with God in organizing the universe and part of how I understand the LDS notion that God is a human being.

Kabbalah is clearly so tied to the Hebrew language that it is impossible I think for someone like me to really understand it without knowing Hebrew, given the layer upon layer of symbolism, gematria, Talmudic references, etc which make up that universe.

I mean we talk about parallel universes sometimes here speaking about physics, but those theoretical universes are just about as separate from my universe as Kabbalah is.

I think it's main use for someone like me, is to better learn what I call "vertical thinking"- maybe best exemplified by the proponents of the "bible code", where it is possible to create meaning not just linearly, as a reading of a text, but seeing also "anacrostic patterns"- patterns of symbols analogous to the bible code texts where other meanings can be created by seeing a message in alternate ways.

So has Kabbalah been created by and for Hebrew speakers only? I think perhaps that is the case, just as every linguistic group's reality is a bit different from everyone else's. Does God reveal himself only to Hebrew speakers? I certainly hope not!

Seriously though, I think the main advantage to Kabbalah is teaching us how to think about symbolism and learning a systematic approach to receiving our own revelations. I see it more as learning a methodology to seeing (creating?) symbolism/revelation, which is applicable to everyone!

I have charts for example, tying portions of the endowment to other portions in a "vertical" pattern- that I think is God revealing himself to me in a very personal way- it is my own personal "Kabbalah". I of course share those with no one; but Kabbalah teaches one to think that way, and is about seeing God revealing himself in ways we never dreamed possible.

I guess what I am saying in a round about way is that we all get to create our own golem, or Weltanshauung or whatever you want to call it!

Thanks for the reference- I will look it up!