Jacob and the Angel, Kabbalah and Metaphor

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This is a long post.
We are coming up on the holiday of Chanukkah. As part of my circular metaphoric musings, I'd like to do a little presentation. What kind of student of Kabbalah am I? How dare I call myself that? I like to muse circularly, and Kabbalah is the most circular modality I know of because it is based on the energy of spheres, the Sephirot. Now, I'm studying online withRabbi Ginsburgh www.inner.org. I am so thankful that Rabbi chose the venue of the internet to reveal his teachings. B'H.
In my quest for truth and knowledge, I'm trying to study the original texts themselves. Of course, this is quite difficult as I am not a Hebrew speaker. I've taught myself enough now to be able to follow and to understand the lectures. Rabbi Ginsburgh teaches Kabbalah and Chassidut. Chassidut is the teachings of the Baal Shem Tov. Before Baal Shem Tov , the Ari, Rabbi Isaac Luria, 16th century Kabbalist, was the reigning authority. He still is . The Kabbalah we study today is Lurianic Kabbalah, based upon the revelations of the Ari. Everybody is still trying to figure him out. I love the Ari.
The Ari was a teacher. His students wrote down his teachings. Rabbi Chaim Vitale was the Ari's student, and it is through him that we have the works of the Ari. Original manuscripts were all lost during WWII .
Now, when I read the translations, most current translation of the Ari into English is SHAAR HAGILGULIM - THE GATES OF REINCARNATION Translated from the Teachings of Rabbi Isaac Luria 1534-1575. It starts off with the Kabbalistic levels of the soul. Heavy duty stuff. I love it. Part of why I study Kabbalah, is because it is through the study that you receive the gift of connection. Kabbalah defines itself as an active modality. You have to do your work to receive the data. Studying is part of the work.
Before the Ari was Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai who wrote the Zohar in 70 AD. It was not revealed until the 13th century when Rabbi Moses de Leon of Spain took Rabbi Shimon's manuscripts and compiled them. The First Quintessential Text of Kabbalah is Sefer Yetzirah, Book of Formation. Sefer Yetzirah is accredited to the Partiarch Abraham. Rabbi Ginsburgh refers to Sefer Yetzirah a lot in his lectures.
Rabbi Ginsburgh's lectures require a lot of previous knowledge. He is translating everything into the metaphor. This week's lecture wasn't on gematria, but on Letter and Word Permutations. Fascinating.
One thing I try to do when I study is to relate the Torah portion to what is currently going on now, in real time, on both a global and a personal level. Students of Torah are supposed to do this. You are allowed to think your own thoughts, and to expound upon the knowledge. Torah is alive, and she grows with Her people, Her people being those who study Her. Torah is always referred to in the feminine. A lot of Orthodox Judaic sects won't let women anywhere near Torah. They're afraid we're going to blow it up or something. But women were the original keepers of the oral tradition. It is still very difficult for a woman to study Torah, unless you were born into the genre. I'm self studied, even though I am Jewish by birth.
In this past Torah portion there is a lot of action. When I read the literal story, it is very harsh. But you have to go beyond that to the metaphors, and the connectedness of the entirety of Torah. I'm glad to have Abraham and Isaac behind us. The energy of Abraham and Isaac is very difficult to integrate. Now, we're with Jacob, Yakov, Tiferet in the Sephirot. Central Column Energy. The left is in the right, the right is in the left, and neither can exist without the center.
Briefly, here's the Action in Vayishlach. Yayishlach means ' messengers'.
Jacob is leaving Laban's land to go back home. He needs to re encounter his brother Esau. Jacob sends messengers ahead, and finds out that Esau is on the way to meet Jacob with 400 men. Jacob then divides his family, and sends the women, Leah Rachel Zilpah Bilah and 11 sons and 1 daughter ahead. Then Jacob battles with the stranger - the Angel. Jacob wins the battle, asks the stranger his name, but the stranger will not tell him. The stranger then names Jacob Israel. Then Jacob and Esau meet, and everything seems to be ok. Dinah, Jacob's only daughter , birthed by Leah, gets raped. The brothers castrate/circumsize all the men, then when they are in pain they go and slaughter them all, and rescue Dinah. very violent....
It is mentioned that Rebecca's nurse Deborah died and was buried in the valley of Beth El.
Then the sons, the tribes of Jacob are named. Then Isaac dies. He lived 180 years. Then Rachel dies giving birth to Benjamin and is buried on the road. Then the sons and daughters of Esau are named. Lot of women in this chronicling.
So, we have a lot of deaths and a lot of naming of tribes and descdants, and a lot of women named in this portion.
I find that whenever a lot is going on in a Torah portion, a lot is going on in my life.
The most important metaphor is the battle with the stranger.
Rabbi Ginsburgh's Lecture is entitled "Battling the Stranger in the Darkness". Ok. here we go.
The sages teach that the stranger , the angel, is the spiritual root of Esau, who symbolizes the enemy within us. "The purpose of this angel is to motivate us to overcome and triumph in goodness". The actual wrestling between Jacob and the Angel is an existential fight. Again, it is the action of tzim tzum - the Ari goes into that a lot in his commentaries on Vayishlach. How evil came to be manifest in the physical.
According to Baal Shem Tov, every element of reality contains 3 dimensions:
worlds - the outer dimension, created reality
souls - the inner dimension of souls within the worlds
Divinity - God is One and God is all within creation.
"WE are created with both a good and evil inclination in order to perfect the first two dimensions of reality and to manifest the third dimension of Pure Divinity". The purpose of 'being' created with good/evil is in order to rectify the 3 realities. The energy of rectificing worlds in through the psychological process of elevation.
"The most significant and potent word in the description of Jacob's encounter with the angel is "vaye'avek" (Genesis 32:24) which means, 'and he wrestled'. 'vaye'avek is a very rare word. The root of this word is alef, beit, kuf.
There are 3 interpretations of the root of alef beit kuf.
dust - alef beit kuf = avak- corresponds to worlds
When Jacob and the Angel wrestled, dust was stirred up reaching the Divine Throne.
" All of created reality is symbolically referred to as dust and sparks. When the sun shines through the window we see specks of dust in the ray of light. Meditation on that dust is meditation on the worlds. In Jacob's triumphant battle with the archangel of Esau he struggled to elevate and rectify the world, kicking up dust that ascended all the way to the Divine Throne."
embrace - chet beit aleph - chavak - corresponds to souls
the aleph and chet and interchangeable in a phonetic gematria. In the context of combat, the combatants embrace with the purpose of throwing each other to the ground. In the realm of souls, embracing and connection is required rather than rectification.
torch - alef beit kuf - Rabbinic Hebrew - avukah - corresponds to Divinity
"The torch lights up the night, which symbolizes the world. We must reveal Godliness throughout reality, as a torch in the night. As the light of the torch shines more powerfully, the darkness of night disappears and we experience the pure, brillant and potent light of God in the world."
Our job is to ignite and reveal light.
"The secret of Jacob's wrestling bout with the archangel of Esau is the secret of elevation of the worlds, the embrace of the souls, and finally the revelation of the Divine torch of God's light in all reality".
www.inner.org
Thank you Rabbi.
This is just one metaphor on one word.
The study is endless. That's why I love it so much. It fascinates me, and there is always more, another level.
When I'm studying Torah and Kabbalah, time does not exist.
I'm trying to show how by studying this modality, I have a part in revealing the concealed. I've read some of the blogs where students are really doing Midrash - but I'm not trained in that. Yet I do believe that Hashem is giving me an opportunity to reveal light by doing this.
Yes, I do believe.
B'Shalom

B'Shalom