tzav: gd in transition
sholem aleichem,
thank you all very much for your support on my return to newslettering! i'm happy to be back, baruch hashem, for another week. writing this one early, as i have a busy busy busy week ahead.
the word i chose from parshas tzav is עלה/olah, from the second verse of the parsha:
צַו אֶת־אַהֲרֹן וְאֶת־בָּנָיו לֵאמֹר זֹאת תּוֹרַת הָעֹלָה הִוא הָעֹלָה
command aharon and his sons, saying: this is the torah of the עלה/olah, she is the עלה/olah
what is the עלה/olah?
traditionally, this is a word for a burnt offering. the root ע-ל-ה means "to rise" -- as we burn the offering, it "rises up" in smoke.
rebbe nachman observes a deep connection between the phraseהוא העלה [she is the olah/rising] from our parsha and a verse of shir hashirim:
מִי זֹאת עוֹלָה
lit: who this she-rises
"who is she that rises..."
rebbe nachman repeats the verse, adding a word:
מִי עִם זֹאת עוֹלָה
lit: who WITH this she-rises
"who" rises with "this"
in the zohar, "who" is a name of gd (i learned this piece of zohar from t4torah).
this name comes from a verse in yeshiyahu, which reads:
שְׂאוּ־מָרוֹם עֵינֵיכֶם וּרְאוּ מִי־בָרָא אֵלֶּה
lift your eyes on high and see who created these
the zohar understands "who created these" not (only) as a question, but a statement: "who" created these. the question-word is the answer to the question.
in our case, "who" created "this" -- and now, rebbe nachman draws out, "who" rises/עלה with "this".
מלא כל-הארץ כבודו -- gd's presence fills the entire world
and if this is true, then Her presence fills the offering we are burning, and as the offering rises, so does a piece of Her, turned into smoke.
an עלה is (a piece of) gd, transforming.
an עלה is (a piece of) gd, in transition.
and more: an עלה is gd taking pleasure in her own transition.
mamash pleasure!
because because because: we burn offerings davka to please gd -- in parshas vayikra, the עלה is described as
עֹלָה אִשֵּׁה רֵיחַ־נִיחוֹחַ לַיה
a rising by fire, a pleasing scent for hashem
of course, we no longer burn offerings.
but we do transition, a pleasure for hashem
מִי זֹאת עֹלָה מִן־הַמִּדְבָּר מִתְרַפֶּקֶת עַל־דּוֹדָהּ
who is she, transitioning out of the wilderness, leaning on her beloved?
the Shechinah roused me beneath a true-knowing tree. there, my mother struggled to conceive me. there, she who conceived me, engendered me.
shavua tov,
ada
p.s. did you not know that shir hashirim is a metaphor for transition? what else "we have a little sister, there are no breasts for her, what will be done for our sister?"
p.p.s. a few notes for the nerds on my highly interpretive shir hashirim "translation". the second section literally begins "i roused you beneath an apple tree". there's a tradition (see Rashi) that reads "you" thru this section metaphorically as gd -- i have specifically chosen to reverse this, reading "i have roused you" as the shechinah speaking to me. also, the word for apple-tree, תפוח, has the same gematria as ידעתי: i (intimately) knew. whence, a true-knowing tree.