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Two Complementary Modes of Providence

In order to explain this, we turn to an enigmatic passage in Petichat Eliyahu (from the Tikuney Zohar).

The Holy One blessed-be-He says [to the Shechinah]: Since the day the earthly Beth HaMikdash [Temple] was destroyed [and Israel was sent into exile], do you think that I have dwelt peacefully in My Abode and Home [the Heavenly Temple and the Heavenly Jerusalem]? No! The fact is that I have not entered there since the day you went into exile.

[In order to verify this for you] behold, I give you a sign: “My head is filled with Tal/Dew [and My locks with drops of the night]” (Song of Songs 5:2). [Tal is spelled Tet-Lamed] the numerical value of which is 39. This is exactly equivalent to the numerical value of the first three letters of My Name [when each letter is expanded or spelled out with Aleph’s]: Yod-Vav-Dalet (20), Heh-Aleph (6), Vav-Aleph-Vav (13). This totals Tal [Tet-Lamed = 39]. The fourth letter, spelled Heh-Aleph, equals 6. This represents My Shechinah [Indwelling Presence].

When all Four Letters of the Name are added together [39 + 6], they equal 45. When the last letter, Heh-Aleph, is separated from the others [i.e. when the Shechinah is in exile and Hashem’s Presence is hidden from mankind], they equal 39. The final letter, Heh-Aleph, thus represents the Shechinah in exile when She is unable to receive the life-giving Tal/Dew of the first three letters. However, when this Tal/Dew will flow down to fill the Shechinah from the “waterflow” of all the Supernal Springs, She will be revived and the Redemption will have arrived.

This passage begins “The Holy One blessed-be-He says to the Shechinah.” The term Kudsha Berich Hu (“the Holy One blessed-be-He”) refers to Hashem’s miraculous providence and overriding plan for history. The term Shechinah (“Indwelling Presence”) refers to His hidden providence that accompanies Israel into exile.

The existence of these two seemingly dichotomous (but really complementary) modes of providence requires explanation.

Briefly, our experience and perception of G-d involves a number of basic paradoxes which are built into the mega-system of creation. What we must know is that these paradoxes exist only from our point of view and experience, from the point of view of the system itself.

For instance, we see G-d as absolutely transcendent and distant, on the one hand, and immanent and close, on the other. The first leads us to contemplate how the entire universe is naught in comparison to the infiniteness of the One who created it. The second allows us to perceive His providential concern for everything in the universe down to the tiniest detail of our lives.

This apparent dichotomy is reflected in the correlation between the Four-Letter Name of G-d, YHVH (Havayah), which bespeaks His transcendence, and the Names Elohim or Adonai which bespeak His immanence and His mastery over nature. In our text, this same apparent dichotomy is reflected in the more subtle division that exists between the first three letters of the Name itself (Yod-Vav-Dalet, Heh-Aleph, Vav-Aleph-Vav), and the final letter (Heh-Aleph).

The reason we experience transcendence and immanence as dichotomous is because we cannot understand how both sides of the equation can be true at the same time. From G-d’s point of view, on the other hand, it is all one. He is simply not subject to the law of opposites that characterizes everything in His creation. G-d transcends the highest heavens. Heaven and earth, like distance and closeness, have nothing to do with Him. These are only categories which He created especially for us, i.e. so that we could exist, experience Him and know something of the Infinite Being about whom nothing can be said or thought.

However we define them, the point is that these two modes are ONE. The first is like a king hidden away in his palace; the other is like the same king standing next to you disguised as a pauper. Aren’t these “two” really “one”? Isn’t it the same king? YES! And in a way it is the second mode that is even deeper. How awesome it is that the Infinite One hides in our very midst, and we don’t see Him!

When do we begin to perceive this hidden unity (as opposed to apparent duality)? On Shabbat.

This is seen in the liturgical poem, Lecha Dodi, by Rabbi Shlomo Alkabetz of Tzfat (c. 1530), sung every Friday night in order to welcome the Sabbath. This song begins:

My Beloved [G-d], come to greet the Bride! Together let us welcome the Sabbath Queen! Observe and Remember – the One G-d caused us to hear in a single utterance. YHVH is One and His Name is One! For [the sake of the unity of His] Name, for consummate harmony and glowing praise!

In this masterpiece of poetic allusion, the higher mode of YHVH is called the Beloved. He is the Blessed Holy One who directs history from above in Heaven. The lower mode of Adonai (Shechinah, Malchut) is called Sabbath Bride, Sabbath Queen, and Jerusalem. During the six weekdays (and paralleling this in the larger time-frame, during the six millennia of this world), the unity of the Holy One and the Shechinah is obscured. The Shechinah is said to be in exile. Jerusalem is in ruins and the holiness of the Temple (Beth HaMikdash) is buried inaccessibly deep in the heart of the Jewish people.

Now, on Friday night, as the holiness of the Sabbath descends and illuminates the world with a taste of the Ultimate Future, we turn around and face west, toward the back of the Beth Knesset (Synagogue), in order to welcome the Shechinah as she rises up from the depths of exile and concealment to reunite with the Beloved. Unable to hold back any longer, we invite G-d to descend from Heaven, to greet the Bride, to reveal His Absolute Oneness in history, the absolute unity of the Blessed Holy One and His Shechinah. We ourselves, children of the Holy One and the Shechinah, rejoice in the privilege of seeing a hint of the revelation of G-d’s Absolute Unity on the Sabbath. We ask that the ultimate Sabbath (the 7th Millennium) be ushered in when that revelation will be complete, when mankind will no longer be oblivious to G-d’s Presence, when Jerusalem, the city that unites Heaven and Earth, will be rebuilt. We ask that the son of David come and signal the advent of the Great Sabbath.

This is the key. The apparent separation of the final letter Heh (Heh-Aleph when it is spelled out) makes it incumbent upon us to re-turn and re-unite it with the first three letters. Why does G-d hide? Why does He hide His Unified Light and present us with a world of broken fragments? Why is life so grueling? The answer to all of these questions is the same: He wants us to actively participate in fixing the universe, in redeeming the Shechinah, in bringing about the revelation of the Light of His Blessed Oneness into the deepest darkness of this-world.

This is precisely the mystery of Teshuvah [Return], which is spelled Teshuv-Heh [“Return the Heh”]. When we return to Hashem – when we begin to see through the disguise, when we begin to awaken from the slumber of this-world – we unite the Shechinah, corresponding to the final Heh, with the Holy One blessed-be-He. In other words, by arousing the G-dly part of our own souls to return to Hashem, we bring about a unification of the letters of His Name, i.e. a revelation of His Oneness in the world.

Now we can understand how this relates to our original question. This same symmetry is seen in the numerical value of the word Geulah, “Redemption” that appears in the 7th Blessing of the Amidah.

When Geulah is written without a Vav (i.e. as long as Man has not seen through the external façade of a world that seems to exist separately from G-d), it also equals 39. This indicates that Hashem cannot reveal the Tal/Dew (Tal = 39) of His Name (the Revelation of His transcendent Oneness) into the concealment of the world yet. The world is not yet ready for such a powerful revelation.

Only when the Vav (6) of Geulah [paralleling the Heh-Aleph (6) of the Name of 45, which represents the Divine Presence in exile] is restored, when Human Consciousness has attained its critical mass, can the Light of Redemption shine down into every crack and cranny of creation. Only then does the code-word “Geulah” – the Goal of the Historical Drama – attain its full numerical value of 45, equaling the complete spelling of the letters of Hashem’s Name and the complete revelation of His Oneness. Only then will the apparent duality of transcendence and immanence give way to the Hidden Unity that was there – waiting to be revealed – all the time.

This is what the Sages meant when they formulated the words of the 7th Blessing:

And hasten to redeem us with a Complete Redemption for Your Name’s sake.

For the Sake of Your Name. Geulah Shelemah, Complete Redemption, is attained when the Light of Redemption shines down as Tal/Dew to revive and awaken the innermost point of G-d-consciousness that lies dormant (and therefore hidden) in the human soul. When is this critical mass attained? When we see through the illusion of separateness; when we realize that the final Heh (Heh-Aleph) of the Name of 45 was never really severed from its Supernal Source Above.

This connection is further hinted in the numerical value of the words “YHVH Echad” [“G-d is One”], which also equal 39. This indicates that the Tal-Dew (39) that will revive the “dead” (i.e. the Shechinah and the Soul of Israel and Humanity in exile) is none other than the revelation of Hashem’s Oneness. This revelation will not be complete until the absolute Sovereignty of Hashem’s Indwelling Presence in creation is revealed to all of mankind in this world.

“On that day, the Oneness of Hashem (YHVH, the Holy One blessed-be-He) and the Oneness of His Name (Adonai, the Shechinah) will be revealed” (Zechariah 14:9, based on Zohar 2:135b).

The source-verse for Tal being the Dew of Resurrection is:

“Your dead will live again; My [people’s] corpses shall arise. Awake and sing, O you who dwell in the dust! For Your Tal [dew] is a Tal Orot [dew of lights], and the earth shall cast forth the dead [who rested in it]” (Isaiah 26:19).

Next: ABOUT THE NAME OF THIS SITE - 4

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