Tag Archives: hebrew

Burying the dead in the beginning

Adult raven photograph by Ron Hanna via https://www.audubon.org/field-guide/bird/common-raven#photo3

Studying Jewish folklore brings one around many old testament stories, and with that, the source of many cultural idioms and expressions: “the writing on the wall”, the value of atonement, among much else.

Something new to me is a source of wisdom on burying one’s dead. I did not realize advice about it for Jews goes back to beresheit:

…

After Hevel [aka Abel] was slain, he was lying in a field, his blood spattered over sticks and stones. The dog who had been guarding Hevel’s flock now also guarded Hevel’s corpse from the beasts of the field and the birds of the sky.

Adam and his mate came and sat by the corpse, weeping and mourning for him, but they did not know what to do with Hevel’s body.

A raven whose companion had just died said: I will teach Adam what to do. The raven took his dead companion, dug up the earth before the eyes of Adam and his mate, and buried him in it.

Adam said: We will do as the raven. At once he took Hevel’s corpse and buried it in the ground.

…

Commentary on the fourth reading of the first torah cycle, via https://headcoverings-by-devorah.com/MidrashBereishit3.html, with image via https://www.audubon.org/field-guide/bird/common-raven#photo3

Philo on The Name: Panpsychism and Panentheism

Philo was a Jewish philosopher living in Hellenistic Alexandria, Egypt, of the Roman Empire around 20 BCE to 50 CE. He thought of “Logos” [1] along the lines of Plato’s “theory of Ideas” or “theory of Forms” [2]. These are related to panpsychism [3] and the role of archetypes in that consciousness context. For more on that subject, see the post All is Mind.

Philo identified the metaphysical “Logos” with HaShem [4] (an ineffable name of G-d, Hebrew for “the Name”, Tree of Life). Following these connections is one clue connecting the Kabbalistic Tree of Life with a metaphysics of panpsychism and mystical Jewish panentheism [5].

1 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philo#Logos
2 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theory_of_forms
3 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panpsychism
4 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philo#Knowledge_of_Greek_and_Hebrew
5 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panentheism

Image via https://update.gci.org/2017/10/primer-on-panentheism/

Thanks to the Source. A little more info about Philo:

“Philo visited the Second Temple in Jerusalem at least once in his lifetime.[10] Philo would have been a contemporary of Jesus and his Apostles. Philo along with his brothers received a thorough education. They were educated in the Hellenistic culture of Alexandria and Roman culture, to a degree in Ancient Egyptian culture and particularly in the traditions of Judaism, in the study of Jewish traditional literature and in Greek philosophy.”

via https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philo#Life

שמע ישראל Receiving Home: A Simple Qabbalah of Shema Yisrael

A beautiful bit of wisdom along with a very meaningful tapestry.

The prayer on the bottom of the tapestry is the most essential Jewish prayer, the Shema:

Shema Yisrael, Adonai Elohanu, Adonai Echad

It has great significance in many layers and is especially sacred written in the Hebrew alephbet. The prayer can translate directly to:

Hear Israel, "G-d" is "our Lord", "G-d" is the one

The Hebrew word for “G-d” as used in the Shema has deep meaning and is associated with the allso profound Tree of Life, as shown in the above tapestry.

One mystical interpretation is:

Hear, inner spiritual 'Home': The ALL is (All) our world, The ALL is One.

A brief but potent reminder about a metaphysics of panentheistic panpsychism – two words with much to unpack, put less academically as: One Love אהבה אחת

שלום שלום שלום

שלום Receiving Peace: Exploring Qabbalah of Shalom

via https://www.myjewishlearning.com/jewish-and/achieving-shalom

I give thanks to the Source. And I say shalom שלום.

Introduction to Qabbalah and Hebrew Alefbet

Qabbalah קבלה means ‘receiving’ in Hebrew. It is a mystical discipline of Jewish and alchemical traditions. At its heart is the role of language in Jewish thought. That is a subject in and of itself – one brief angle:

In Hebrew, there’s no word for objects, only names. “Things” exist essentially as name, as language in thought and breath create the potential and material universe.

The Hebrew alefbet is of great significance. It is the fruit and pathways of the Tree of Life. Each letter having many associates such that, as a whole, the letters of the Hebrew alefbet contain, correspond with, and create All of creation. An elementary particle if you will, near the Source of All.

In this post and possibly others I will share some simple glimpses of the qabbalah of simple words, songs, prayers. Through that receiving will be more information on Qabbalah, or you can read about it at https://www.crystalinks.com/kabala.html or ask about other approaches.

שלום

שלום: Peace; hello; goodbye; a name of the One, synonymous with ‘the Lord’ or Allah الله. Shalom is a common word used by Hebrew speakers, and its equivalents in other languages are common as well. Arabic says salam سلام, Latin pax, English peace. Peace.

Peace has many forms. I will not speak on that in this post. I encourage you to seek and dis-cover peace in your life. “May peace be upon you” as these ancient languages say.

ש ל ו ם – letters read from right to left: shin, lamed, vav, mem – Sh L U M – four letters form shalom, representing four sounds or ways of breath. Or four classical elements, or . . .

Here is a table of each letter and some of its correspondences, after which is a stream of meaning of the letters together to spell peace ש ל ו ם

Continue reading →

A Judgement and A Tooth: Mysteries of the Hebrew Letter Shin

The 21st Hebrew Letter: Shin

The Hebrew letter Shin. It is the 21st letter of the alephbet, it is a “sh” or “s” sound, it indicates the number “300” in the Hebrew number system, its glyph means “tooth”, and it is interpreted in mystical Judaism to be the active element of the world, Fire. Various spiritual interpretations of this letter would say that it corresponds to the soulful force inside us which is pure awareness, bright and hot like fire, which destroys illusions.

How does one’s tooth correspond with judgement? Do I judge my food as I eat it? Or is the action of my teeth on food analogous to the action of judgement on ‘soul food’ or experience itself? As I chew, various teeth are put to work. At risk of disgust, here’s a look at partially chewed food, hopefully to inspire good chewing and food selection for oneself.

Continue reading →

Truth – אמת

via Lights of Kabbalah page on Facebook

“Truth can come from anywhere—there is nothing that does not have its truth. Because, without a spark of truth, nothing can exist. Not even falseness.
Therefore, the wise person is one who knows how to learn truth from every person and discover the truth of each thing.”
~ Rabbi Tzvi Freeman

via Lights of Kabbalah page on Facebook

Alef – the breath of life
Mem – the water, memory, reception
Tet – the world, completion

Truth!

Universal Ox

In Hebrew, Aleph is the first letter and is associated with the wind element, the breath of life. The letter Aleph is heiroglyphic for Ox, a symbolism rooted in very early and surprisingly surviving language.

In Daoism, Ox is a common theme in many stories and teachings. Lao Tzu riding the ox, Chuang Tzu’s story of the effortless ox butcher, and the Ten Ox Herding Pictures.

These two themes, in Daoism and in Hebrew mysticism, both seem to express the same archetype related to wind, breath, effortless work, ‘the force’.

What is it about The 0x?