Tzel and Tzelem: Shadow and Form

Many Christians believe that all the rituals of Judaism and especially the Covenant with Moses are no longer relevant because they were a shadow of the New Covenant. They base this on their reading of Hebrews 10:1 in the New Testament.

  Hebrews 10:1(Margoliuth Translation)כִּ֣י הַתּוֹרָ֗ה אֲשֶׁ֤ר יֵֽשׁ־לָהּ֨ צֵ֚להַטּוּב֣וֹת הָֽעֲתִיד֔וֹת לֹ֕א עֶ֖צֶם צֶ֣לֶםהַדְּבָרִ֑ים לְעוֹלָ֞ם לֹ֤א תוּכַל֨ לְהַשְׁלִ֣ים אֶת־הַקְּרֵבִ֔ים בִּזְבָחִ֨ים הָהֵ֜ם אֲשֶׁ֨ר הֵ֤ם מַקְרִיבִים֨ תָּמִ֔יד מִדֵּ֥י שָׁנָ֖ה בְּשָׁנָֽה ׃

Hebrews 10:1 - For in the law there was a shadow of the good things to come; not the substance of the things themselves. Therefore, although the same sacrifices were every year offered, they could never perfect those who offered them. 

 The word for shadow in the Greek is skian, in Aramaic it is tellanita, in Hebrew it is tzel and in Latin it is umbram. An important thing to notice about this idea of a shadow or promise (tzel) in the Law as a pointing towards a future taking form or fulfilment of this shadow or promise, is that it is not saying that this is what the whole purpose of the Law is or was. It is not saying that the Law or Torah is only this shadow but it is saying this prophetic shadow is present pointing to the future goal or destination (telos/ takhlit) of the Law or Torah.

 The word for Law or Torah in Greek is nomos and in Aramaic it is namusa. Did nomos or namusa come first? I believe that both nomos and namusa come from the same source. Aramaic was the language of the Northern Tribes of Israel and some of the Ancient Greek's were of Israelite origin. This word for law came from the Egyptian word for nome meaning an allotment or portion which in Greek became nemo (to allot or dispense). Thus the words nome Muse in Egyptian meaning the allotment of Moses became the Law of Moses. This developed among the Greeks as nomos and among the Lost Tribes as namusa meaning law or written law. That this Nome Muse was chanted with musical cantillations was preserved in the Ancient Greek culture as a word for the traditional melody types used by the singer for the recitation of the epics. The musical inheritance of chanting both Scripture and the liturgy sadly has been lost in recent years in much of the Western Church.

In this verse from Hebrews (10:1) it speaks about the shadow (tellanita/ tzel) and the essence or substance or emanation or form (Kenoma/tzelem) of the Torah. The pun between tzel and tzelem is missing in the Greek and the Aramaic demonstrating the Epistle to the Hebrews was probably originally written in Hebrew. Thus the addition of the Hebrew letter mem to tzel (Tzaddi Lamed) makes tzelem. The two mems of mem for the Hebrew Catholic represents the messianic (Mashiach) and Marian (Miriam) dimensions of reading the Torah that turns shadow (promise) into form or substance (fulfilment).

The Tzelem or Image of God is also the Sefirotic array and the Aramaic word kenoma is a cognate of sefirah. Adam was made in the Tzelem of God and thus the first Adam was the shadow (tzel) and the Second Adam (the Messiah) was the Tzelem. Thus every Tzelem has a tzel. In Catholic tradition St Joseph is also known as the Shadow (tzel) of the Father. It is only in the divinity (divine unity) of the Tri-une God that there is no Tzel with its Tzelem as this Divinity is the Eternal Sun of the Divine Will and God the Father is never a tzel (see James 1:17). In the person of the Messiah we could say that his Divinity is the tzelem and his humanity the tzel. Thus, the term "In the Shadow of the Almighty" (betzel Shadai) refers to Messiah as the God-Man (Adam Kadmon) the second person of the Thrice-Holy God in whom we are called to dwell. Thus the Messiah can be a tzel of the Father and the Holy Spirit in his humanity but in his divinity he is co-equal and co-eternal.

In mythology a vampire has no shadow and thus an object or reality or form without its shadow is not fully alive but the living dead. Thus, without the shadow of the Jewish rituals our understanding of the Catholic rituals are not fully alive and cannot fully attain the level of light that they were created for. They end up as a form of pseudo-Gnostic spirituality cut off from its roots and types in Judaism. Those roots and types are the tzel (shadow). However, some Christians are satisfied with only reading about the types or shadows in the written text rather than experiencing them in their fullness of lived reality. I suspect one of the Divine reasons for preserving Judaism outside the Church was to preserve this lived reality of Judaism at a time when Gentile intolerance did not allow it to be preserved in the Church. Another reason was to allow the Church to spirituality renew itself in its Judaic and Biblical roots by interaction with lived Judaism and its spiritual and mystical traditions and teachings.

Betzelel who was the major craftsman of the Temple furnishings has a name which means "in the Shadow of God". Rebbe Nachman of Brelsov in the Likutey Moharan associates this name of Betzelel (in the image/form of God) with the concept of the supernal Joseph who is one of the four minds in the Jewish Temple. Thus when Jesus made his comment about being in his father's house when he was in the Temple, he was alluding to the fact that the Temple and its rituals was also part of Joseph's House just as he lived in Joseph's House in Nazareth.  Thus the Temple was the tzel of the tzelem of the Holy House of Nazareth. The concept of Tzelem is like the word template in English and it was the God-Man Messiah (Yeshua) in his attributes (sefirot) who was the template for the first Adam (Adam ha Rishon). Thus St Joseph was the tzel (shadow) of the Father but his human masculine nature was the tzelem for the male characteristics of the Messiah, just as Our Lady was the demut (likeness) of Divinity and the dam (blood) or human biological nature for the Messiah.

That St Joseph was the Shadow of the Father does not mean that when the Messiah came as the Tzelem that Joseph lost his importance or relevance. No! his importance and relevance increased and were given a new light of understanding. In a sense the Holy House of Nazareth was a tzel (hidden shadow) on the earthly level but in Eternity is the Tzelem of which both the Covenant with Moses and the New Covenant on earth are shadows. Just as CS Lewis described this world (in his children's novel "The Last Battle" of the Narnia series) as the shadow-lands in contrast to Heaven.  Thus, the Covenant with Moses receives a new and deeper light with the revelation of the Messiah. 

In a sense, the first coming of the Messiah, who lived according to the Temple law and ritual, was the tzel (shadow) of his second coming which is the Tzelem of the Kingdom. Hebrews 9 speaks about the Messiah's first coming to the Jews to deal with sin but states that at a second appearing he will be bringing salvation to those who are still waiting for it. This second appearing to the Jewish people (Judaism) is not what many call the Second Coming or Final Coming of the Messiah in power to earth physically but a second appearing or manifestation of the Messiah (as a hidden or shadow Thief in the Night) to those Jews (Rabbinic Judaism) who did not receive salvation at his first coming but were still expecting it. 

"So also Christ was offered once to exhaust the sins of many; the second time he shall appear without sin to them that expect him unto salvation." (Hebrews 9:28 Douay Rheims)

That the Jewish Passover and the other table rituals of Judaism is the tzel of the Eucharist (which is the Tzelem) does not mean they cease to exist or have relevance and importance. The Eucharist now shines a greater light on their relevance. However, the Eucharist is a tzel (shadow) of the Kingdom of God that is Coming (Tzelem of the Kingdom of the Divine Will done on earth as it is in Heaven). This does not mean that the Eucharist or the other sacraments will lose their relevance and importance but we will enter into a deeper Eucharistic penetration called in the writings of the servant of God Luisa Piccarreta the Bread of the Divine Will. The Kingdom of the Divine Will on earth is the tzel of the Kingdom of the Divine Will in Heaven (which is then the Tzelem). In moving from tzel to Tzelem there seems to be a transformation and renewal which may transfigure some of the outward forms of the tzel due to the greater light that the Tzelem shines on the tzel.

One who enters into the gift of Living or Dwelling in the Divine Will (a higher form of sanctification) begins to perceive both the Eucharist and the Jewish Passover and Jewish Shabbat in a deeper and new or renewed light than those who only perceive them in the light of following the Divine Will. Judaism's orthopractic concern with blessings and mitzvot (acts) starts to make more sense to those Catholics who are desiring to live in the Divine Will, who now see Judaism in a new light. In this sense, Hasidic Judaism is a tzel of the future Hebrew Catholic or Catholic Jewish community, just as the Gentile Church is a tzel of this anticipated future Kehilla. This is also the concept of "deep calling to deeper" and "going from glory to glory". This concept of tzel and tzelem and the idea of continuity and discontinuity also applies to the concept of the development of doctrine in the teaching of the Catholic Church.