The Conundrum of the 33rd Level of Purity

 Long time readers of this blog know that we have discussed Edom's mean limit to serve G-d only until the 33rd Level of Purity.  Since Edom's purpose for serving G-d is to make money and to ensure prosperity in Olam HaZeh for the rest of human history.  He does a calculation.  Moshe Rabbeinu is told that the Divine blessing for serving Him in the Desert comes through the Mon, His Divine Money, in the desert.  Specifically Moshe is told about the Mon on the 30th day after leaving Egypt, the 30th day of the Omer which was a Shabbat.  The night at Midnight when HaShem sent the Destroying angel into the homes of the Egytian firstborn was "Wednesday night" at Midnight.  The Day of departure on the 15th of Nissan was a Thursday, and the 30th day was a Shabbat four weeks and two days later.  So that night Motzei Shabbat, the Mon (Mannah) fell for the first time, and the 3rd time that the Mon fell was on Lag B'Omer.  So in order to become "part owner" of the Mon by having a Chazakah on it, one had to wait until the 3rd night that the Mon fell (a Monday night) or Yom Shlishi before someone who wanted to have keys to G-d's prosperity machine would then borrow the Mon for the rest of history.  So if a people were to create a system of belief that one's Olam HaBa was signed, sealed, and delivered by believing that an itinerant Jewish preacher could be crucified and rise from the dead so that those who believe that he did this would have G-d's Eternity guaranteed to them, alas they would need to build a system in this World to guarantee G-d's blessing for them in Olam HaZeh forevermore.  By rising to the 33rd level of purity, they could have their Olam HaBa and their Olam HaZeh too, kind of like having one's cake and eating it too in both worlds.  While many Xtians rise to greater heights of decency than the above worldview, Xtianity as a belief system does not "reward" those who rise above the 33rd level of purity.  So at its "Mean", the focus of spiritual growth amongst Xtians is precisely that, the 33rd level of purity.  This in a nutshell is the short version of Xtianity that I have covered in multiple places on this blog.  Once again, I do recognize that many Xtians rise above their philosophical worldview to become very decent human beings beyond the 33rd level, but alas many do not.  And we see loads of them around today with names like Candace and Tucker and Ron Paul.

So getting back to what really is a spiritual ladder.  First we recognize that if the levels of purity (and impurity) is a 7 by 7 matrix between the Animal soul and the 7 lower Sefirot of the Neshamah, the Divine soul, we get the weave that we see every year during Sefirat HaOmer (Chessed that is in Chessed, Gevurah that is in Chessed, Tiffereth that is in Chessed, etc... for a total of 49 spaces) in the matrix.  A matrix set of values can be understood as the Coefficients of the variables in a Wave function.  So if a Wave function were to have four variables for three spatial dimensions and time (x. y, z, t), then there would need to be four wave functions in order to come up with solutions to the problem.  So in our example of a 7 by 7 matrix we need 7 wave functions, and as it turns out, in  , If one does an Operation on series of wave functions, the solutions appear in the Diagonal boxes of the matrix.  In German, these values are called Eigenvalues after Diagonalization where a complex set of multivariable functions, where the number of variables equals the number of functions, can be simplified by zeroing out all cross terms which combine different variables to only be left with solutions for the Diagonals.  Since I do not want want to discuss Quantum Mechanics here, think of it this way.  If we could diagonalize our  7 by 7 matrix and only be left with values for the diagonals, then those diagonals might tell us something like the length of the various exiles or the length of time for Mashiach ben Ephraim or Mashiach ben David.  Since only G-d knows the variables and their coefficients, this would be theoretical, but our sages have given us hints which Empire that ruled over Israel corresponds with Chessed that is in Chessed, Gevurah that is in Gevurah, Tiferreth that is in Tiffereth, Netzach that is in Netzach, and Hod that is in Hod.  Yesod that is in Yesod is Mashiach ben Ephraim, and Malkhut that is in Malkhut is Mashiach ben David.  

For this we need some basic understanding.  Chaza"l tell us that when we left Mitzraim we were at the lowest level of purity below which we would not have been redeemed.  This would be the level of Chessed that is in Chessed in Mitzraim.  Below this point we would have fallen into the Abyss of one of the cities we were building there, Pithom, or פתם.  If we expand that store city's name into its actual essence, the name of the city is פי תהום, The Mouth of the Abyss.  Notice that the letters that prevented us from falling into the Abyss, were the letters in HaShem's Name Yud, Hey, and Vav which are absent from the name of the City as it appears in the Torah (Shemot 1:11).  From this we see that Chaza"l identified that Galut at Chessed that is in Chessed as Mitzraim, for had we fallen below that level, we would not have been redeemed.  Previously on this blog we discussed that the entire period of the 70 years of the Babylonian Exile and the 420 years of the 2nd Temple correspond to 490 years where as a Nation we rose through 49 levels of Taharah, one level every ten years.  Since the First Temple had already corresponded with the Exodus from Egypt which took 7 days from the Plague of the First Born to Crossing the Yam Suf, so the first 7 levels (the ___ she beChessed levels) of Sefirat HaOmer correspond to Pesach.  And only the remaining 42 levels correspond with the years of the 2nd Temple leading up to but not including Shavuot.  Since were were not One People with One Heart because of Sinat Chinam during the 2nd Temple, the 2nd Temple was then destroyed at the end of those 420 years (42 levels beyond Pesach x 10 years per level).  Because of Sinat Chinam we never quite made the 2nd Temple into a Spiritual Shavuot.  

So in order to understand the corresponding Galuyot for each of the remaining diagonals of our matrix, we need one more pasuk from the Navi (Zekhariah 8:23)

כג  כֹּה-אָמַר, יְהוָה צְבָאוֹת, בַּיָּמִים הָהֵמָּה, אֲשֶׁר יַחֲזִיקוּ עֲשָׂרָה אֲנָשִׁים מִכֹּל לְשֹׁנוֹת הַגּוֹיִם; וְהֶחֱזִיקוּ בִּכְנַף אִישׁ יְהוּדִי לֵאמֹר, נֵלְכָה עִמָּכֶם--כִּי שָׁמַעְנוּ, אֱלֹהִים עִמָּכֶם.  {ס} 23 Thus saith the HaShem of hosts: In those days it shall come to pass, that ten men shall take hold, out of all the languages of the nations, shall even take hold of the Corner (of a four cornered garment) of him that is a Jew, saying: We will go with you, for we have heard that God is with you.

From this we learn that if we purified ourselves one level of purity during the 2nd Temple period every ten years, during the years leading up to the 3rd Temple, the mitzvot of Klal Yisrael would purify the nations of the world one level every one hundred years.  If this is the case according to our eigenvalue hypothesis, at the end of 900 years, we would see evidence of the next stage or the First exile.  Now the Exodus from Egypt was in the year 2448.  890 years later, the First Temple was destroyed at Gevurah that is in Gevurah, the 9th space on our 7 by 7 matrix.  There are only three negative mitzvot where there are no extenuating circumstances where there is a heter to not do the negative commandment (not to murder, not to worship idols, and not to engage in Biblically mandated immorality (adultery, homosexuality, bestiality, and incest).  There is NO Pikuach nefesh to save your own life where one is permitted to do either of those three prohibitions.  As these three things are defined, there is never a reason where one can intentionally take life by targeting innocent human life, bow down to an idol or declare someone else as a god besides HaShem, or commit one of the cardinal acts of immorality.  These three sins are the ultimate acts that require a punishment of Gevurah.  Gevurah is not mitigated by Chessed to get Emeth for those three sins, and it is specifically those three sins which destroyed the First Temple.  So we can say that the First Temple was destroyed at the level of Gevurah that is in Gevurah almost 9 Centuries after the Torah was given because that Temple was destroyed by the commission of the 3 sins that are judged with strict Gevurah (with no extenuating circumstances).

For now let us skip and return to the next exile, the Persian Exile at (Tiferreth that is in Tiferreth, the 17th level of purity, the level of Emeth of Yaakov Avinu).  We will come back to it in the End.  The next diagonal Eigenvalue that we arrive at is Netzach that is in Netzach (the 25th level of purity as represented by the Greek Exile and Redemption from it).  Rav Matis Weinberg in his Book on Chanukah, carefully and meticulously proves that the differentiating characteristic between Yisrael and Yawan is in the Sefirah of Hod, that basically Israel gives the Glory to G-d and Yawan gives the Glory to Man.  Anyone know that song Fanfare for the Common Man by Aaron Copland?  (MY L-RD, DID A HELLENIZED YID HAVE TO WRITE THIS QUITESSENTIALLY GREEK SONG?)  For some reason, back in the 1970s this song was always played at the beginning of the Olympic Games and was introduced to the crowd as Ode to the Common Man.  I specifically remember this from watching the Opening Ceremonies to the Summer Olympics in Munich in 1972 and Montreal in 1976.  Just remember that Hod in Hebrew is Ode in Ancient Greek.  We see this difference and the corresponding similarities between Yisrael and Yawan specifically in the essence of Netzach (Eternity) where on many levels the Netzach of the Avot is rivalled by the Netzach of Socrates and Plato, and the Netzach of Aristotle is rivalled by the Netzach of Moshe Rabbeinu, leHavdil.  But we do share one thing in common with the Greeks.  The name recognition of our Great prophets and thinkers 2500 years later is rivalled by the name recognition of Greek philosophers and thinkers.  This is the essence of Netzach, the apparent Eternality of ideas that affect history for all time.  We remember Moshe and Aristotle, LeHavdil because we remember their ideas, even if the ideas of these two men are vastly different from each other.  But the essence of difference between Yisrael and Yawan is to whom we give Hod.  On that we are polar opposites.  They give the Glory to Man, and We give it to HaShem.  And since the one who is pure in Hod of all the Sefirot is Aharon HaKohen, his descendants were given the privilege to defeat Yawan specifically at the level of Netzach than is in Netzach, the 25th level of purity.  It is noteworthy that the 25th Century after Matan Torah were the years 4848 to 4948 (1088 until 1188ce).  Rav Moshe ben Maimon lived from 1138 to 1204ce.  So the end of the 25th Century and the beginning of the resultant Century was part and parcel his Half- Century.  It is not a coincidence that during his lifetime, besides his other noteworthy achievements, he used the Aristotelian logic, Aristotle's most longlasting method of deduction, to give several proofs for the Existence of G-d.  He thereby took what was one of the more proven and enduring Mathematical techniques of the Ancient Greeks applying it for its Holy purpose, not the purpose that the Greeks intended but the purpose that G-d intended by giving the Greeks keys to so much wisdom.  One could almost say that the time for the purification and sanctification of what Greece gave to Mankind was the 25th Century after Matan Torah and the resultant beginning of the 26th Century.  

This brings us to the Century with the next eigenvalue, the 33rd Century after Matan Torah from 5648 to 5748 (1888 until 1988).  This Century is often called America's Century because it was the 100 year period of America's greatest achievements.  It was the Century of Hod that is in Hod, the Century where America shined but like Greece at level 25, America could not quite purify.  Its spiritual decay reached an epic pace of decline in the 1960s around 2/3rds through that Century.  Why?  Because as often discussed on this blog, America's purpose for "Giving G-d the Glory" was to prosper and to make money, its tachlit as a Civilization.  The example that has been given on this blog of Edom desiring only to reach the 33rd level of purity is the Mon which first fell from Shamayim on the 31st day after leaving Mitzraim.  Moshe was told on a Shabbat, the 30th day after leaving Mitzraim that Mon would fall overnight on Motzei Shabbat, the 31st day of the Omer for the first time.  And on Lag B'Omer, Klal Yisrael would receive the Mon for the third time, giving us a Chazakah on the Mon.  If our purpose for serving G-d were to just reach a level of prosperity in order to receive the Mon forever through having a Chazakah, then there would be no need to continue for the next 17 days until Shavuot to receive the Torah.  The lesson here is of course that the purpose of serving HaShem is lishma, not the financial gain that can be derived by doing so.  Yet, in Edom's clever mind where his World to Come is signed, sealed, and delivered by what a son of a Jewish carpenter did for him 2000 years ago, the baseline reason for serving G-d in this World IS to make money or to create a Civil Society which " insures [ensures] domestic Tranquility, provides for the common defence [defense], promotes the general Welfare" of its citizens with an emphasis on promoting the General Welfare of the Klal.  Notice that the United States of America was founded on the 17th of Tamuz 5536 (4th of July 1776) in the 31st Centuray after Matan Torah but reached its zenith in the 33rd Century after Matan Torah.  It seems to have come into existence for the express purpose of Serving G-d like a Merrill Lynch bull in a China shop, prospering while being careful about all the delicate luxuries that is could accumulate only needing G-d to bless its future with eternal prosperity at the 33rd level.  Keep in mind that the Golden Bull is just an adult Golden Calf though.  Never forget that was the real error on the 17th of Tamuz when we left Mitzraim.  The Erev Rav and about 3000 from Klal Yisrael actually worshiped the Calf.  They were executed by the Leviim on that very day.  The rest of the 603,550 Bnei Yisrael had made a spiritual error.  They thought that the resting place for the Divine Presence here on earth was between the horns of the Golden Calf, the nascent bull in that China shop.  They had conflated Prosperity with the Utopian vision of Yom sheKulo Shabbat, that they were one and the same.  In short they made the similar error of America's founding fathers, but unlike those founders, they had a prophetic eye from Matan Torah to discern the difference that was not given to America's gentile founders.  So what was an exulted vision of a greater tomorrow in the eyes of America's founders was a huge leap in the wrong direction for those at Sinai who thought the Divine Presence would dwell between the horns of a nascent bull.  And I believe I need to stress that point.  Until America's founding, the Gentile world could not even dream to reaching the 33rd level.  So despite it all, America was the greatest spiritual achievement of humanity that had not directly received the Holy Torah in its entirety.  But like those at Sinai, they conflated unparalleled prosperity with the Utopia of Yom SheKulo Shabbat, or more likely, they had no intention of going further than that 33rd level, assuming mistakenly that their belief in what the Jewish carpenter did for them would carry them the rest of the way.  Yet, they erred in another way too.  

In other places on this blog, we have discussed that until the 30th level of purity, the World of Chessed and the World of Din can be approached from an understanding of pure Chessed and pure Din, that the two are not necessarily intertwined.  So Yishmael whose vision of G-d is only through the Midat haDin and pure Cbessed without Din can only rise to the level of serving G-d as a servant serves a King to this 30th level of purity as if he were spiritually growing from Rosh Chodesh Elul until Rosh HaShanah, but when it comes to seeking a level of G-d as a father on Rosh HaShanah, he gets stuck taking care of the donkeys when Yitzchak goes up to Har HaMoriah.  When seeking Rachamim, there is a fusion of both G-d as a King with His Chessed to understanding G-d as a Compassionate Father starting on Rosh HaShanah when Avinu Malkeinu is first pronounced.  Yishmael never fully grasps that concept, and until this very day really only understands G-d as a King and not G-d as a Father.  But since Yitzchak deeply understood this, he went the next step.  Since Edom like Yaakov also comes from Yitzchak, he too understands G-d as his loving Father..... up to a point.  It is said that when he realized that he had lost his Olam HaBa but had kept his entire reward for Olam HaZeh upon receiving his father Yitzchak's blessing that Edom shed two tears, one to take him to the 31st level of purity and another to take him to the 32nd level of purity, by appealing to his Heavenly Father with two of his tears, but alas the third tear welled in his eye and did not fall.  So the third tear which would have taken him to the 33rd level of purity never quite emerged.  So at the very end of his efforts his attempt to assure himself eternal life with eternal prosperity at the 33rd level, well in the end that attempt would fail.  So just like Yawan (Greece) fails at the level that he thought that he could achieve, the 25th level of purity, Edom also fails to achieve his goal at level 33.  And it is at that level that Western Civilization, the Civilization that he built started to fail (as mentioned before, referring to America's epic spiritual collapse beginning in the 1960s).  So when Gog HW Bush Sr. comes on the scenes as President in the year 5749 (1988), the 3301st year after Matan Torah to build the proverbial roof over American Civilization after achieving its objective of serving G-d to make money for 3 consecutive Centuries, America was already in steep spiritual decline.  His attempt at declaring a New World Order was already at least 20 to 25 years too late.  In actuality, I think that when the film Rebel Without a Cause became a sweeping success in the mid-1950s, the all encompassing spiritual decline of the United States had already begun.  That happened to be exactly 2/3rds of the way through the 33rd Century after Matan Torah at the exact point where Edom failed to produce his third tear.

To be Continued.....  This post is not complete, but I think I need to post this now and finish it later.