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| Kabbalistic Tree of Life |
Isaiah 60:1-2 TLV
Arise, shine, for your light has come! The glory of ADONAI has risen on you. For behold, darkness covers the earth, and deep darkness the peoples. But ADONAI will arise upon you, and His glory will appear over you.
The word "Glory" has special meaning and significance in both Judaism and Christianity. Christmas is a good day to ponder this relationship. Here is what I surmised.
Given the supernatural quality of the birth and death of Yeshua I decided to turn to kabbalistic sources for the Jewish viewpoint. That is why I included the Kabbalah Tree of Life illustration above.
My knowledge of Kabbalah is miniscule, so pardon my limited ability to explain what I am trying to share.
The Hebrew word for Glory is Tiferet - Hebrew: תִּפְאֶרֶת - Lit. 'beauty, glory, adornment. On Kabbalah's¹ Tree of Life, Tiferet is the sixth Sefira. In the Jewish Kabbalah, the Sephiroth spheres on the Tree represent emenations of God in the human psyche. In Kabbalah all things are linked to God through these emanations. The lines connecting the spheres are pathways. There is a hierarchical aspect to the Tree with the bottom of the diagram being akin to the base of a tree and the top being the crown.
The sphere of Tiferet/Glory has the common association of "Spirituality", "Balance", "Integration", "Beauty", "Miracles", and "Compassion." You can see Tiferet (Glory) at the center of the Tree.
Tiferet is the force that integrates the Sefira of Chesed ("Kindness") and Gevurah ("Strength, also called Din, "Judgement"). Those two forces are, respectively, expansive (giving) and restrictive (receiving). Either of them without the other could not manifest the flow of Divine energy; they must be balanced in perfect proportion by balancing compassion with discipline/judgment.
Notice in the Tree of Life image above that the Tiferet occupies a place on the middle pillar and it takes a central place in the lower face of the Tree of Life. It has both a higher and lower reflection.
Tiferet is unique amongst the Sephirot as it is connected to all the other Sephirot except Malkuth.
Malkuth means Kingdom and is associated with the realm of matter/earth and relates to the physical world.
The Tiferet's position down the center indicates to many Kabbalists that it is somewhat of a "converting" Sephirot as all the other words cross over the middle path via Tiferet (Glory).
With Christmas upon, here are some scriptures with the word glory.
John 1:14, NKJV
It is written, “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.”
Luke 2:14-20
“Glory to God in the highest, and on earth shalom to men of good will.” And when the angels departed from them into the heavens, the shepherds were saying to one another, “Let’s go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened which ADONAI has made known to us!” So they hurried off and found Miriam and Joseph, and the Baby lying in the manger. When they had seen this, they made known the word that had been spoken to them concerning this Child. And all those who heard were amazed at the things the shepherds told them. But Miriam treasured all these things, pondering them in her heart. The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen, just as they had been told."
Shechinah Glory
The rabbis teach us that the Word of God is referred to as the Shechinah (שכינה) pronounced Shekhina in English. The word derives from the root Shechen (שכן), which means to dwell. The term is used to describe God’s manifest glory or His visible presence in the creation.
There is an important Jewish book attributed to a 1st-century rabbinic sage named Nehunya ben HaKanah (a contemporary of Yochanan ben Zakai) that is called the Sefer HaBahir (Hebrew: סֵפֶר הַבָּהִיר) "Book of Clarity" or "Book of Illumination."
During the period of the "early church," this 1st Century Rabbinic sage Nehunya ben HaKanah said: “God is the place of the world.” The sages further articulate that the part of the Divine sphere that interacts with man is the Shechinah. This interaction represents God in the lower spheres, which some refer to as the natural realm.
Isaiah 40:22
“He who sits above the circle of the earth, And its inhabitants are like grasshoppers, Who stretches out the heavens like a curtain, And spreads them out like a tent to dwell in.”
In the Bahir, a mystical religious text attributed to this same 1st-century rabbinic sage Nehunya ben HaKanah, it states that the Sixth Sephirot is the adorned, glorious, delightful throne of glory, the house of the world to come. It's place is engraved in wisdom as it says 'God said: Let there be light, and there was light.'
John 3:19-21 TLV
“Now this is the judgment, that the light has come into the world and men loved the darkness instead of the light, because their deeds were evil. For everyone who does evil hates the light and does not come to the light, so that their deeds will not be exposed. But whoever practices the truth comes to the light, so that it may be made known that his deeds have been accomplished in God.”
Again, on the kabbalistic Tree of Life, to the left of
Tiferet is the word Gevurah which is the emenation of judgment. To the right is the word Chesed which is the emenation lovingkindness. There are other fascinating relationships on the Tree as well -- even the Hebrew letters in the pathways have a meaning.
Frankly, as I meditate on this matter there is much more than I have the room or words to express in this post. There are many online resources available about Kabbalah. I would just caution the reader to seek reputable credible sources. Here is an introduction to the Tree of Life.
There are many aspects of Kabbalah which correspond to an understanding of Yeshua. For more on this refer to this article:
For an overview of Kabbalah watch this video.
Finally, to help explain Christmas in a very ironic way I am going to share a very Jewish article from a Hassidic website. I put a link to it here:
“For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life."
- John 3:16
Merry Christmas and Happy Chanukah! "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth shalom to men of good will.”
Epilogue:
By Rabbi and acclaimed author on the topic Kabbalah Tzvi Freeman:
"As much as the human soul yearns to rise up and merge within the light of its Creator, so much more so does the Infinite Creator yearn to be found within the human soul.
If so, what force could stand between them? What could hold back the Creator’s infinite light?
Only His desire that this union occur with our consent, that we be the ones to crack open the door.
Even when the soul’s yearning has faded, forsaking its Beloved, wrestling itself from His love and even openly rebelling…even then, He cries out to us and knocks on our door.
“Open for me just an infinitesimal pinhole,” G‑d pleads, “and I will open for you a vast, infinite portal to all My love, from My very core of being.”
In order to experience spiritual evolution one forms intentions for connection with the Devine. It seems to me that this invitation to receive understanding from the Creator is essential to both Judaism and Christianity.
"God is unseeable, and yet, he invites us to look for him. God is incomprehensible, and yet he invites us to know him.”
Isaiah 60:19-22 TLV
"No more will the sun be your light by day, nor the glow of the moon be your light, but ADONAI will be your everlasting light, and your God for your glory. No more will your sun set, nor will your moon wane, for ADONAI will be your everlasting light, as the days of your mourning end. Then your people will all be righteous. They will possess the land forever— the branch of His planting, the work of My hands— that I may be glorified. The smallest will become a thousand, and the least a mighty nation. I, ADONAI, will hasten it in its time.”
Epilogue:
I wrote a blog post about 7 months after this one the I think relates to this. Click here to read "The Perfector."