|
|
Kabbalah/Chassidut |  |
| "Deeds
of Kindness with Added Mystical Intentions"
Part 3: "Circumcision"translated
and edited from Tomer (the Palm Tree of) Devorah of
Rabbi Moshe Cordevero (the 'Ramak')by Rabbi Moshe Miller
Caring for a newborn
Circumcision Visiting the sick
Giving charity Hosting Strangers
Attending to the dead Providing for a bride
Peace-making
Circumcising
the child, i.e., fulfilling the commandments perfectly, circumcising every aspect
of "husk" or "foreskin" that attaches itself to yesod. One
should pursue all those who cause the foreskin to grow on yesod, bringing
them back in repentance in such a way that, by circumcising the foreskins of their
hearts, he renders the Supernal Tzadik "without a foreskin". He must maintain
a firm stance in rectifying all those things that bring about the foreskin there.
For this reason, by circumcising the foreskin
of the Jewish people, Pinchas became worthy of the priesthood, for he did kindness
to his Creator according to the mystical explanation of circumcision - by removing
the foreskin from yesod, he became worthy of the quality of chesed.
From this, one can learn all the other qualities of chesed. Next
installment: Visiting the sick Previous
Installment: Caring for a newborn First
Installment: Preface
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Rabbi Moshe-Leib Miller, a guest teacher at Ascent
when he lived in Israel, was born in South Africa and received his yeshiva education
in Israel and America. He is a prolific author and translator, with some twenty
books to his name on a wide variety of topics, including a new, authoritative,
annotated translation of the Zohar. He currently lives in Chicago. |
|
