Vladimir Soloviev (1853-1900) the great Russian Orthodox philosopher and mystic proclaimed that it would be the Jews as a spiritual-ethnic identity that would bring about the reunion of the Western and Eastern Churches. This would be achieved through a deeper penetration of Jewish mysticism which Jews in both the Western Church and the Eastern Church would bring to the wider Church. The Russian Orthodox priest and theologian Father Lev Gillet (1893-1980) in discussing the Jewish messianic hope and its importance for Christian faith states that the Russian Christians have maintained this eschatological dimension of Christian faith. He writes:
“... for the Orthodox Church, the things that are to come have always been more important ...This has given to the Orthodox Church that other-worldly atmosphere and orientation...it has maintained...an eschatologic and often apocalyptic consciousness...”.Father Gillet draws on the teachings of the Hasidic (Chabad) Jewish scholar Paul Levertoff (1878-1954) who embraced Christianity and became an Anglican priest, led a Hebrew Anglican community in England, developed a Hassidic style Eucharistic Liturgy and was one of the expert translators of the Socino edition of the Zohar. Gillet writes:
“...Levertoff gives the following expression to the inner desire of the Jewish mystics: “Everything is longing for that Messianic redemption, through which God’s immanence will be fully realised. We must enter deeply into this groaning of Creation, and listen with the ears of the spirit to the plaint of the imprisoned soul of Nature and its longing for redemption. For in the days of Messiah the inner nature of God will be revealed, and His light will permeate Man. And if Israel would only pray in the true spirit, the Messiah would reveal Himself in all his glory now”. The true Messianic relationship, the true coming of the Messiah, is to be taken possession of by Him. But this being taken possession of will be perfect only in the “beyond”. We believe in the end of the present world and in a new world. The world renewal, linked with the Messianic Parousia, must not remain in the background. We must not be shy of the last things. We should already throw our hearts on the other side, where sin and death will not be...”Gillet writes that this eschatological and apocalyptic thinking of the Eastern Church is found at the core of the great Russian Orthodox writers Khomiakov, Soloviev, Fedorov, Berdyaev and Bulgakov. He writes rather poetically of this eschatological dimension in Eastern orthodox thought.
“... The Messiah is still for us a rising sun above the horizon. He is not yet the sun at midday, the white brilliance which will pervade all. We should wait for the midday brightness with all the eschatological expectation of the primitive Church...Rebbe Nachman of Breslov was a forerunner in the idea of music therapy and today there are many who are using music as a form of therapeutic treatment. Professor Rudd writes of ‘musicking’ as a form of self–care. He tells a story of a theologian who cured himself of asthma by ‘musicking’. Rudd considers music to be a cultural immunogen that promotes good health in society and among individuals. He also discusses how ‘musicking’ can be a catalyst for stress and anger and a help in overcoming depression and social phobia.
Deborah Salmon also writes about music therapy as a psychospiritual process that is valuable in the field of palliative care. She writes:
“Music, with its intrinsic capacity for beauty and expression, has been used throughout time to convey the gamut of human emotion and experience. The literature on the use of music therapy in palliative care illustrates its remarkable depth and breadth in enhancing the lives of terminally ill people and their families. Music therapists in palliative care regularly describe profound encounters with patients...”. Salmon writes of the terminally ill feeling “a call of the deep”. It is in this realm of depth which offers encounters of wholeness, integrity, and meaning. Music sings the language of the deep and thus evokes imagery and feelings that take the patient beyond the realms of ordinary consciousness. This ‘call of the deep’ may manifest in a psychological or personal manner drawing one into treasured memories of the past and/or unresolved issues. Or it may manifest in a spiritual and transpersonal manner where the music gives a powerful sense of beauty, meaning and the Divine realm. This would fit with Emmanuel Levinas’ ideas about passivity as the abyss (deep) from which meaning rises.Rebbe Nachman in his teachings on ‘hitbodedut’ speaks of Divine Intimacy and then going beyond this into the abyss or void or Noplace (bitul/ nothingness). The secret to bitul is to just close your mouth and listen in silence, which even if it is but a moment, is something anyone can achieve according to Rebbe Nachman. This leads one to a Jewish Dark Night of the Soul in which the Chasid enters the deep (abyss/ tahom). Zvi Mark refers to this place as the Void. As the Void we are led back even further into the immemorial past to the moment of “without form and void” of Genesis 1. It is only possible to find God in the void by silence and melody. However, the purpose of entering this high mystical state that breaks the bounds of time and space is not to remain there but to return and encounter the needs of others in a spiritual programme of mercy and charity (tzadakah). God desires your worship more than your bitul (nothingness).[
This encounter of the hidden melody as Divine Mercy is then expressed in heart-felt song and dance in worship of God and a perceiving of the Divine Melody in all things and all people. This is a form of ethical transcendence in which we see the good in all and attain emunah (faith) that even in the darkest places of our lives it is all for the best. Both Catholicism and Breslov Hasidism see the Messiah as central to this encounter with the Divine and others. These others in some mystical sense share in the spirit of the Messiah son of Joseph.
A Reading by Mary Grey titled “From Mystery to Sacrament” is a delightful piece of literary bricolage which discusses the concept of ‘mysterion’.
She links the idea of the liturgy as a Divine Song with the concept of
Mystery. The idea of a Divine Song has Jewish roots in the immemorial
past when God sang the Creation into existence in Genesis 1. This ‘Song
of Creation’ later manifests as the ‘Song of Moses’ and the ‘Song of
Miriam’ as well as the Song of the future. This Song is associated with
the coming of the Messiah. The Messiah’s liturgical Mystery is the
Lord’s Song.
Grey states that the consciousness of the Divine Mystery as
holiness and transcendence “first surfaced and became explicit in the
history of Israel”. She also links this to the idea of covenant and the
mystery of God’s Love. Thus the sacraments or ‘mysteries of the
kingdom’ are an outpouring of God’s love and mercy. Grey talks about the
teaching of the Eastern Fathers “God is thirsty for man”. This reveals
that the covenant is an intimate relationship between man and God. Thus
the sacraments are like a Divine Kiss and Embrace drawing man into ever
deeper intimacy with his Lover.
She also discusses the very Jewish concept of Jacob’s
Ladder in regards to Jesus proclaiming himself as Jacob’s Ladder in John
1:51. This is also an image found in St John of the Cross in regards to
the Dark Night of the Soul. One of the central mysteries of the Jewish
Kabbalah is the concept of the Divine Man (Adam Kadmon) in the form of the Sefirot (divine attributes or Emanations) as Jacob’s Ladder. The seven lower Sefirot could be linked with the seven sacraments of the New Covenant.
The great Catholic historian
Christopher Dawson writes about the spiritual and mystical Catholic
as a man of eroticism, desire and passion like St Francis of Assisi and
St Augustine. True erotic love is generous, warm hearted and giving
rather than the self-absorbed, parsimonious and economic cold "charity"
of the bourgeois. However Dawson's warning is for all of us who have
that hidden closed Pharisee or Bourgeois within us. He proclaims:
"...The question of the bourgeois involves a real issue which Christians cannot afford to shirk. For it is difficult to deny that there is a fundamental disharmony between bourgeois and Christian civilization and between the mind of the bourgeois and the mind of Christ. But first let us admit that it is no use hunting for the bourgeois. For we are all more or less bourgeois and our civilization is bourgeois from top to bottom. Hence there can be no question of treating the bourgeois in the orthodox communist fashion as a gang of antisocial reptiles who can be exterminated summarily by the revolutionary proletariat; for in order to "liquidate" the bourgeoisie modern society would have to "liquidate" itself...".
Dawson champions a Christian ethos that is creative, free, passionate and mystically erotic:
"...Seen from this point of view, it is obvious that the Christian ethos is essentially antibourgeois, since it is an ethos of love. This is particularly obvious in the case of St. Francis and the mediaeval mystics, who appropriated to their use the phraseology of mediaeval erotic poetry and used the antibourgeois concepts of the chivalrous class-consciousness, such as "adel,""noble," and "gentile," in order to define the spiritual character of the true mystic..."
When
I became a Catholic and joined the Association of Hebrew Catholics over
30 years ago I was one of the few voices advocating openly for the
acceptance of Torah observant Hebrew Catholics. However since then I
have seen a shift in thinking and many more people supporting and open
to this among Hebrew Catholics. What I found lacking in Father Elias'"Jewish Identity" I had found previously in Father Lev Gillet's
"Communion in the Messiah". I had read it first and it in a sense
allowed me to see that becoming a Catholic would not mean an abandonment
of all that was best in Judaism and the hope of working towards an
"Hasidic Jewish branch of the Catholic Church". I think that Messianic
Rabbi Mark Kinzer's book on Nostra Aetate is another of these privotal
books on the path to the Ingrafting.
For now we bear the inner conflict
of seeming to our fellow Jews to have abandoned them while knowing that
this is not really the case if we can build this Jewish space in the
Church where we can live out fully our Jewish and Catholic election or
vocation as an Israelite collective. The Association of Hebrew Catholics (AHC) began this journey 40 years
ago to create an opening for that Jewish space in the Church and while
there is still a long way to go, much has been achieved in that time to
prepare for the coming generation or generations that will lead us into
the Jewish space and place in the Body of the Messiah Yeshua.
Father Elias saw the rise of
Messianic Jews as one of the signs of the times and I think the ideas of
Mark Kinzer are a fruit of this sign and will play a part in this
mystery of Israel. The life and example of Cardinal Lustiger of Paris
was also privotal as was the interview Cardinal (then Archbishop) Burke
gave to David Moss the President of the AHC, in regards to Jewish
observances. The Helsinki Consultations on Jews in the Church, which led to the creation of Yachad beYeshua, was
also an important step as is the informal dialogue between the Catholic
Church and Messianic Jews that was established with the approval of Pope
John Paul II in 2000.
Of course, the dialogue between Jews and Catholics
and the magisterial documents beginning with Nostra Aetate have also
been crucial and greater knowledge and acceptance of them is needed to
flow into the consciousness of the wider membership of the Church. There needs to be deeper engagement or mystical based wrestling with these documents in the light of the teachings of the Fathers and Doctors of the Church and the insights of the sages of Judaism.
The ‘face upon the waters’ circling the ‘face upon the deep (tahom)’ in Genesis 1:2 represents this wrestling or struggle or circle dance, that brings forth the hidden light or blessing. This is linked by the mystical Rabbis with Proverbs 8:26 the ‘Circle over the face of the deep’, Job 26:10 the “circle over the face of the waters’. This concept of the spiral circle dance is associated with Miriam dancing with the women at the Red Sea. It also alludes to the Jewish bride (kallah) circling her bridegroom (khatan) in the Jewish wedding ceremony (Psalm 19:5-6).
This is part of the mystery of “a woman shall encompass a man” (Jer 31:22.) as a mystical besieging or wrestling in prayer by the Mother or Woman (symbolised by Rachel) that produces a ‘son’ (Gen 30:7-8) who will continue the dance of life. Miriam (as the upper mother Binah or Understanding) and Rachel (as the lower Mother Shekhinah) in Eternity can represent Our Lady but the mystical Rachel (as the upper daughter Da'at or hidden Knowledge and the lower daughter Malkhut or Kingdom) can also represent the servant of God, Luisa Piccarreta, in the Kingdom of the Divine Will on earth.
This concept of the circle or ring dance is also connected to the very structure of the Song of Songs. S.O Fawzi writes in "Mystical Interpretation of Song of Songs in the Light of Ancient Jewish Mysticism":
...this characteristic becomes clearer or less ambiguous when the sequence of the Song is understood to follow the stream of consciousness. The transformation of consciousness in the Song seems to fluctuate between the torment of separation and the joy of union within a ring-pattern structure.
Fawzi also states that the Song has a triadic theme based on Love as passion, possession and poetry. Divine Possession (or the desire to live in the Divine Will) leads or transforms to passion as mystic vision (beholding the Beloved) and the poetry of mystic union (devekut or cleaving to the Beloved and the mystical kiss). Thus, this Love Dance of possession, passion and cleaving (reflected in the theme) similar to the Tango, is a circle or spiral dance (reflected in the structure or choreography) ascending the spiral staircase (ladder) of Jacob.
Shiflut (lowliness or humilty) is the first step of this mystical spiral staircase. Being conscious of our own lowliness when we judge or discipline others helps us to discipline in a way that does not impinge on the personal dignity of the one we are disciplining or discipling in our care. We should not desire to break another's will but to give them self-esteem and confidence in life. God the Father is in a sense the most humble and hidden member of the Tri-Une God (the Thrice Holy God) who does not wish to break a bruised reed. If one does not have this Shiflut shebeGevurah (Lowliness that is in Strength) then they can become a tyrant or a cult leader doing great psychic and emotional damage to those in their care. One should never shame those in their care or manipulate them with guilt. This is an abuse of authority.
Simon Jacobson in his meditation of Netzach in regards to the Counting of the Omer writes:
...Netzach means endurance, fortitude and ambition and is a combination of determination and tenacity. It is a balance of patience, persistence and guts. Endurance is also being reliable and accountable, which establishes security and commitment.
Without endurance, any good endeavor or intention has no chance of success. Endurance means to be alive, to be driven by what counts. It is the readiness to fight for what you believe, to go all the way. This, of course, requires that endurance be closely examined to ensure that it is used in a healthy and productive manner...
Rabbi Ginsburgh writes about Netzach:
Netzach is associated in the soul with the power to overcome those obstacles which stand in the way of realizing one's chesed aspiration to bestow goodness upon Creation. Insofar as the word netzach denotes both "victory" and "eternity," it can be said that the ultimate victory of netzach is that over death itself, the final impediment to the pursuit of chesed.
Before killing Agag the King of Amalek, the prophet Samuel said: "and also the Netzach of Israel [God] shall not deceive and not regret for He is not a man who regrets" (Samuel 1:15:29). "To regret" means to change one's mind. The sefirah of netzach stands firm forever and never regrets. Netzach is not a mortal ("not a man") who fears death and is thereby likely "to regret" in the face of death.
Thus, the power of mesirut-nefesh, one's readiness to sacrifice his life for God and the Torah, latent in every Jewish soul, finds its ultimate expression in the sefirah of netzach.
Netzach can also mean "to conduct" or "orchestrate" (as in the word which begins many of the Psalms of David, lamnatzeiach). Hence its consciousness is pragmatic by nature, as reflected in its correspondence to the right leg–which is the first limb of the supernal body to "touch ground."
Ginsburgh associates Netzach in a special way with the Divine Bridegroom (Chatan) and Hod with the Divine Bride (Kallah).
...In the "lower union" of tiferet (the Divine groom) and malchut (the Divine bride), the union of emotion (the heart) and expression (the mouth)–"He [the groom] is in [enters into a state of consciousness of] netzach, and she [the bride] is in [enters into a state of consciousness of] hod."
The experience of the groom, in the union with his bride, is one of netzach, a sense of eternal life and timelessness within the finite parameters of time itself...
The spiritual state identified in Chassidut as corresponding to the sefirah of netzach is that of bitachon (confidence).
Rabbi Ginsburgh also refers to Hod and Netzach which are linked as the left and right legs or feet in the figure or image of the Divine Man. He also sees that Hod repesents the consciousness of the Divine Bride (Kallah) and Netzach the consciouness of the Divine Bridegroom (Chatan). Hod and Netzach are also in the teaching of the Ari represented by the left and right testicles. Hod is associated with the pomegranate (rimon) and the left side is also associated with the feminine. Hod is associated with the Barley harvest which links it to the Counting of the Omer which is the counting of the barley harvest.
Rabbi Ginsburgh teaches:
...the bride enters into the state of consciousness of hod. She experiences in full the presence of Divine providence that has brought her groom and herself together. From the depth of her heart she expresses her gratitude and thanksgiving to God, the "third partner" of her marriage.
Hod = 15, the sum of all numbers from 1 to 5. Hod expresses and reflects all the five emotions of the heart from chesed to hod. "Binah [the "mother" of the emotions of the heart] extends until hod."
Zohar
1:10b asks the companions (chaverim) to sing songs of Praise to the bride as this
is what pleases the Groom. Jacob Frank and his followers used to sing
parts of the Zohar in honour of the Virgin Bride and they were accused
by their enemies of engaging in sex with a naked woman, when it was a statue or icon of the Virgin before whom they sang those parts of the Zohar connected to the mystery of the Lady of the Zohar who was also known as the Lady of Czestochowa. Zohar 1:10b is
linked with Revelations 12, where the Woman of Israel (Mary) is in the
wilderness. The “Shema Yisrael” also is made up of six words linking it
to the concept of Shoshan – the six petalled Rose. This is the male Rose, whereas "Kneset Yisrael" is the female 13 petalled Rose or Shoshanah.
The mystery (Raza) of the Temple is the Rose that is the two hearts. It is two Roses that are united as One Rose. It is the Rosa Mundi. The white rose of the female and the red rose of the suffering male are united to form this Universal and Mystical Rose. O mystery of mysteries (Raza de Razin) is the holy rosarium. Rosarium is latin for the Rose Garden. The Rose Garden is the Garden of Pardes - it is the spiritual journey to the divine heart of the Mystical Rose. It is the number 13. 13 is for Love (ahavah) in gematria. 13 is for oneness and unity (echad) of the hearts filled with the 13 qualities or attributes of mercy (Chesed).
Zohar 1:5b reveals the Female, who we have seen is the RosaMystica, as the Sabbath Queen. She is associated with the Sabbath Eve and her Son with the Sabbath Day. “She said before Him, ‘Master of the Universe, since the day you created me, I have been called Sabbath - and there can be no ‘Day’ without ‘Night’’.” This alludes to Genesis 1:5:
“And God called the Light ‘Day”, and the darkness [the Female concealed in darkness (glow light/zohar)] ‘Night’ [the Sabbath Night], And there was Evening [Sabbath Eve] and there was Morning [Sabbath Morning or Day] – day one.”
This linking of Day One or Sunday with the Sabbath alludes to Sunday as the first and eighth day of the Eternal Sabbath linked with the Resurrection of the Messiah. The day one (yom echad) represents the unity of the Lord of the Sabbath and the Sabbath Queen. The word ‘yom’ (yod vavmem) represents the unity of YHVH and his mother. The ‘yod’ is the ‘Son of the Father’ who descends or bursts into Creation (Tzimtzum) as ‘Light’ (Or) and the ‘vav’ represents the Son as a ‘rose’ that unfolds and blossoms united to the ‘mem’ which is associated with the Mother who is Miriam. The ‘yam’ (sea) that is Miriam (Mir-yam) is found in the word ‘yom’ (day) as it surrounds the ‘vav’ as the Sea of wisdom and Mercy.
The ‘vav’ is the Son
(Zer Anpin) who is the male aspect of Wisdom. The yod is yom can also when looked at in another way (in the prism of the 70 faces of the mystical Sapphire) be associated with the son who is the icon of the Father known to us as St Joseph (YosefhaTzaddik) and thus we see the vav (Zeir Anpin - the Divine Son in his humanity) encompassed by the yod who is his human virgin father and mem who is his human virgin mother.
In a sense, the future concept of the weekend of Saturday and Sunday alludes to Saturday as the special day of Our Lady as the Sabbath Queen and Sunday as the special day of the Resurrected and Glorified Sabbath Lord and Messiah. This can also be linked to the first two days of Pesach with the first Seder Night (15 Nisan) with Our Lady as the Passover Queen linked to the concept of Miriam and the Second Night of Pesach (16 Nisan) with the Tzaddik Messiah as the Passover Lord and Lamb of the Last Supper.
The Lady of the Sabbath is connected with the word ‘observe’ (shamor) in Deuteronomy 5:12 and the Lord of the Sabbath is linked with ‘remember’ (zakhor). Thus, for the Catholic Jew the traditional Sabbath is to be observed in accord with Torah and the Sunday Sabbath is to remember which is connected to the concept of anamnesis (the Greek of the Hebrew Zakhor) in regard to the Eucharist or Divine Liturgy. The Lord of the Sabbath is called Supreme King and the ‘King who possesses Peace’.
Zakhor (remember) alludes to Zakhar (male). This circle and square represent the unity of the Two Hearts that beat as One. These mysteries are revealed by Elijah or St Joseph disguised as an old donkey driver, which alludes to his role in preparing the way for the Messiah who comes humbly riding on a donkey.
The mystical book "Zohar" reveals the mysteries of Miriam who is also called Zohar. Hidden within a mystical study of Jewish mysticism and the Hebrew musical cantillations is revealed cryptically the mysteries of the concealed subterranean part of the Jewish temple. Zohar Bereshit discusses the cantillations marks and shalshalet as part of the mysteries of the Shekhinah who is called Miriam and Zohar among her many names and titles:
"The Shekhinah is an offering for the Holy One, blessed be He, which he receives with both the right and the left arm, and with the body. So when she ascends to him, she should be joined with him with all ten Sefirot, because there can be no holiness with fewer than ten, which is his own holiness. Therefore, when a person wishes his prayer to ascend, he should raise it with all the vowels. If the Serpent plans on disrupting the prayer, one should prepare a slingshot against it, and the secret behind its issue lies in Zarka Makef Shofar Holech Segolta." (Zohar Bereshit)
Mystically, David's slingshot represents the rosary and the five smooth stones the groups of five mysteries. It is with this mystical slingshot we do spiritual battle and defeat any giant obstacles in our way. The circle path of the slingshot represents the circle or cycle of the Rosary mysteries as well as mystical prayer rounds in the Divine Will. A Jewish tradition also states that the five stones merged into one stone (thus the sixth) which they then connect with the recitation of the six word Shema Yisrael Adonai Eloyahnu Adonai echad.
The Shin on the highest level/ World of Atzilut represents the uncreated Shekhinah who is the Holy Spirit and linked to the Elohaynu of the Shema prayer as the unifying principle between the Father (Y-H who is Adonai echad) and the Son (V-H who is Yisrael Adonai). The word in the Shema that partners the Elohaynu of the Holy Spirit is the Shema which represents the created Shekhinah who is Our Lady who is is the Bat Khol (Voice) that cries Shema and unites with the Holy Spirit in Eternity.
The slingshot refers to King David fighting Goliath (who represents the Serpent). Jewish tradition says that the five stones of David's slingshot miraculously merged and became one just as the 12 stones gathered by Jacob miraculously became one stone. The five stones of David represent the first five words of the 'Shema Yisrael' and the sixth word Echad (One/Unity) represented the new merged stone.
The five movements of the Slingshot and the five stones allude to the mystery of the number 10 of the Sefirot and the yod י, which is the number 10. The six words of the Shema and the six words of the response Baruch Shem kavod malkhuto leolam vaed (Blessed be the name of his kingdom of Glory forever (world without end) alludes to the mystery of the number 12 and the 12 stones that became one stone in the Mystery of Jacob/ Israel. If we add 1 for the two parts of the Shema united as one then we have the number 13. Thus the first part (Shema Yisrael Adonai Elohaynu Adonai Echad) of this phrase, which is at the heart of Judaism, is the male Shema Yisrael who is the male Shoshan linked to David's five stones that become one, the mystery of 10 (Yod י the tenth letter of the Hebrew alphabet). The second part (Baruch Shem kavod malkhuto leolam vaed) is the Kneset Yisrael who is the female Shoshanah linked to the 12 stones of Jacob that become one stone or pillow, the mystery of 13 (Mem מor ם is the 13th letter of the Hebrew alphabet).
The word Echad (One/Unity) is 13 in gematria alef= 1, chet=8 and dalet=4. Interestingly Echad is mentioned three times in Genesis 1-2 and each time it is in a 13 word verse. The first mention of echad is in Genesis 1:5 "And there was evening and there was morning one day (echad yom)". This passage represents the mystery of the Incarnation.
The
12 stones also allude to the twelve stones set up by the Joshua and the
Israelites at Gilgul as one stone circle. The mystery of the
cantillations is also alluded to here. The 10 commandments
(words/statements) are divided into 12 when using the lower cantillation
(known as tama kadma or taam tahton). This lower cantillation represents the concept of lowliness of the female who observes (shamor) them. The upper cantillation (known as tamatenina or taam elyon) which divides them in to 10 is the male concept of zachor (remember).
This also refers further to the the six word Shema Yisrael seen as yichud ha-elyon and the six word response as yichud ha-tahton. Chabad Hasidism associates these terms with the concept of yesh (yud-shin) meaning 'being' and ayin meaning nothing. When we use the phrase yesh v'ayin (yesh and ayin united (yichud) it alludes to the concept of Yeshua (yud shin vav ayin). Yichud ha Elyon refers to lifting our worship up to God through becoming nothing and Yichud ha tahton receiving from God.
In "the Paradoxical Ascent to God " by Rachel Elior and Jeffrey Green they state:
"Habad distinguishes between a dual unification: upper unity (yihud ha-elyon) and lower unity (yihud ha-tahton). The higher unification is the focus of spiritual worship, and it means the annihilation of the world and its inclusion within the godhead by the deliberate effort to transcend the boundaries of existence and break through the confinement of the Yesh, time and place. This unification is called 'the transformation of the Yesh into the Ayin,''annihilation of the Yesh,' the 'stripping away of corpeality', 'communion with God' and 'ecstasy', and it refers to the divine will to annihilate itself. The lower unification means the influx of divinity from upper realms to lower realms, from Ayin to Yesh, and its infusion in to the world, in 'the details of the Yesh', in the material and corporeal dimensions by means of the Torah and the commandments. The purpose of the lower unification is to impart the essential meaning to divine worship in reality as an expression of the divine will to be realised and revealed in the opposite of its essence..."
The first three attributes of Mercy invoked before Moses was YHVH, YHVH, El. This is linked to the three mentions of God in the Shema as YHVH, Elohaynu (Our God), YHVH echad (echad = one unity). The Kabbalistic tradition also associates the thirteen attributes of Mercy with the three Kadoshim of “Holy, Holy, Holy” of Isaiah 6 and of the Jewish liturgy. The Jewish Prayer Book calls God the thrice-Holy God. Thus in the authentic Jewish mystical tradition is found a preparation for the Trinitarian and Eucharistic revelation of the New Covenant. This is one of the reasons that traditionally the Rabbinic Jews forbade anyone not over 40 or 50 from studying the Kabbalah, as it was considered potentially dangerous to Orthodox Jewish Faith.
In the Jewish mystical tradition the Sefirot are the ten Attributes of the Divinity or Godhead. The Sefirot are seen in Kabbalah as the garments or crowns of the King and as aspects of the Divine Personality which are united ‘like a flame joined to a coal’. The Kabbalah uses the image of a tree or a body to explain the Sefirot. They call this Body the Primordial Adam (Adam Kadmon) and this can be linked to St Paul’s concepts of the Second Adam and the Body of Christ. The Shekhinah is also Malkhut (Kingdom) as the tenth Sefirah of the Jewish mystical understanding of the Godhead. It is through Malkhut/Shekhinah that one enters the heavenly realm or palaces of the Divine Sefirot (or Attributes of the Divinity). Besides this tenth Sefirah, through which one has to enter as a portal or gateway, the Sefirot are grouped into three triads of Attributes. These nine Sefirot within the Godhead are in complete unity; God is not divided into separate parts but is a unity (Echad). The ten Sefirot are further seen as three forces within the Godhead.
The Christian doctrine of the Trinity has deep Jewish roots. Jesuit priest Gerald O’Collins states that a theology of the Trinity that ignores or downplays its Jewish roots in the Old Testament will be “radically deficient”. He considers that there will be something essentially missing if one does not reflect on the Trinity in the light of the Jewish roots and understanding of Jesus and his Jewish followers. The Trinity is implicitly reflected in the opening verses of Genesis, as well in the three mentions of God in the Shema (YHVH Elohaynu YHVH) and the word echad (unity), the three Holies of the Jewish liturgy and the three mentions of God’s names (YHVH YHVH El) at the beginning of the 13 attributes of Divine Mercy among others. O’ Collins also mentioned the wonderful icon by Andrei Rublev which represents the concept of the Trinity with the three divine messengers that visited Abraham and Sarah.
Yesod (foundation and Divine Phallus) in Jewish mysticism is associated with the Messiah son of Joseph (the promised Seed (zera) of Abraham). The Messiah son of Joseph, like the Patriarch Joseph, excels in sexual purity and makes tikkun for the sexual sins of others. Rebbe Nachman, as the ‘Tzaddik of the Generation’ and ‘Master of Prayer’, united in a special way with the ‘Concept of Joseph’, participates in a unique but communal way with the Messiah and his tikkun. Thus, Rebbe Nachman in Likutey Moharan 36 is speaking about the ascent of the Messiah, when he mentions the ascent or rising of Yesod. I think he is cryptically describing the mystery of the Mass or Eucharistic nuptial feast, where the priest lifts the host and Joseph and Our Lady are mystically present, representing all men and women, with their acts of reparation (tikkun). This Jewish theology of the Body parallels and probably contributed to Pope John Paul II teaching on the theology of the Body due to the Frankists who entered the Catholic Church and brought their mystical insights with them.This is all discussed according to Rabbi Nathan of Nemirov in the context of a mystical kavanot-meditations (intense interior heart-felt meditations) on Kiddush (the Jewish Sabbath evening ceremony of the blessing of wine and bread). Rabbi Nathan writes:
This lesson is from the tongue of the Rebbe himself. He said that it contains the mystical kavanot-meditations of Kiddush, and that, God willing, he would explain this elsewhere.Thus, he is describing this Messianic Kiddush as a form of deep tikkun of the heart or hearts (two hearts of the Abba and Imma) which repairs the damage of those like Bilaam (who the Rebbe describes in Likutey Moharan 36 as an anti-Moses) that instead of following the two hearts of Abba and Imma which are Wisdom and Understanding they follow after their own hearts. The Rebbe then links this mystery of the reparation of the hearts with the reciting of the Keriat Shema (Cry: ShemaYisrael Y-H-V-H Elohaynu Y-H-V-H echad) while focusing on “the beautiful maiden with no eyes” which allude to the Dark Lady of the Zohar who is symbolised by the moon who has no light of its own but only shines the light of the sun. He sees this Lady as the God-fearing Woman in Proverbs 31 who symbolises or embodies the Kingdom of Holiness and is opposed by the demoness Lilith who embodies the Kingdom of Darkness. In another place he associates Lilith with the teachings of sexual perversion followed by Shabtai Zvi who he refers to as a black vessel of Saturn.
For those of us who are Hebrew Catholics, we can make the traditional blessings in Hebrew with a Divine Will intention. It is encouraged in Judaism to make at least 100 brachot (blessings) every day. In Hebrew one of the ways we could translate fusing is with l'echad which means to become one as in unity. Echad means 'one' as in 'one unity' rather than singular unique oneness which is yachid, which is used in regard toAbraham's son Isaac as his only or uniquely begotten son.
This alludes to the Shema:
Shema Yisrael Adonai Eloyahu Adonai Echad. Baruch shem kavod malkhuto le'olam vaed. (Hear O Israel, the Lord Our God is One, Blessed be the name of his glorious kingdom forever (world without end).This glorious Kingdom that is coming is the Kingdom of the Divine Will in which all will be Echad (one unity), both God and man, and man with man, and man with all creatures or created things. This refers to the Single (yachid) Act of the Divine Will in which all acts are one (echad) Divine and Eternal Act. This one Act or Word is Yeshua himself, who unites all into one (echad).
14. It is this that is written: (Is. 6:2) Seraphim standing above it, six wings... etc.
And the one who ascends upon their wings,
and flies with them, is Vav (ו= 6),
comprising the six words of the Unity: (Deut. 6:4) Hear O Israel (Shema)...
And because of it, is stated: (Ecc. 10:20) For the bird (Of עופ) of the heavens... etc. [the bird of ayin vav pehעופ alludes to the angelic ophanim or wheels]
24. And they are ‘the cleaving (devekut) letters’ of the recitation of the Shֶֶema,
for the sake of which it is stated:(Bavli Talmud Berakhot 15b)
‘Anyone who places a space between the cleaving letters
– they cool down gehinom (purgatory) for him.’
26. These are males and these are females.
Those of the recitation of the Shema, which Moses established – males,
those of Solomon – females.
And these (the females) are a receptacle (a house to receive) for these (the males)[ואלין בית קבול לאלין]:the levels of Solomon are a receptacle (a house to receive) for the levels of Moses.
And when all are joined together,
then ‘Solomon’(Sh-LOMoH) is transformed to the word ‘to Moses’(Le-MOSheH).
66. And immediately when (Gen. 8:11) ... it had torn-off an olive leaf in its mouth...
Kh-H (כה 25) resides upon Israel on the 25th of Kislev,
and these are ‘the 25 letters of unity’,
which are (Deut. 6:4) Hear O Israel... etc.
And this is Chanukah
– composed of Chanu (they-encamped) and kh-h (thus 25).
78. Date-palm fronds– this is the lulav.
And upon it is stated:(Mishnah Sukkah 3:1)‘if its leaves are separated, it is unfit’,
because he is one who ‘cuts off the shoots’,
[for behold the lulav is the binding and the unity of all]
whoever makes a blessing over it such a lulav
on the first day of Sukkot.
Because it the lulav is the binding and unity of all,
the chai (life-force) (18) of the worlds’,
which corresponds to the 18(Chai) vertebrae of the spine. And because of this, the sages of the Mishnah established:(Vayikra Rabbah 30:14)
‘the lulav (palm-branch) is like a spine’.
The distinctive vocation of the Jews in the Church is the witness to Torah and mitzvot, as revealed in Divine Revelation and unfolded in salvation history through the reality of the Messiah and his acts of perfect adherence and fulfillment of the Torah and mitzvot as the way of perfect sanctification. Salvation is in the Messiah and his coming, sanctification is the way of Torah and mitzvot that leads one into the heart of the Torah, which is the Messiah himself. It is a way of merciful service (chasidut) that leads to union and unity of wills with the Divine Mercy himself, through the heart of his Mother. This way of sanctification leads to divinization and the time of God’s Will being done on earth as it is in Heaven.
Pope Benedict XVI sees that in God, the Law and the Promise are One in the person of the Messiah. He also sees that one cannot just separate out the moral laws of the Torah and leave the rest. The Torah is a whole and the Revelation of God. How then does the Pope Benedict XVI and the Church resolve the paradox of universalizing the particular to the universal? The Pope gives the solution - it is the mystery of the Cross. He states:
“..all the cultic ordinances of the Old Testament are seen to be taken up into his death and brought to their deepest meaning…The universalizing of the Torah by Jesus…is not the extraction of some universal moral prescriptions from the living whole of God’s revelation. It preserves the unity of cult and ethos. The ethos remains grounded and anchored in the cult, in the worship of God, in such a way that the entire cult is bound together in the Cross…on the Cross Jesus opens up and fulfills the wholeness of the Law and gives it to the pagans, who now accept it in its wholeness, thereby becoming children of Abraham.”
Thus, both Jew and Gentile in the Church share in the whole of the Torah and its mitzvot (commandments), but are called to witness to it by observing it in ways appropriate to their calling. For the Gentile nations are under the Covenant of Noah, according to the Catechism, and thus observe the Noachide laws until the time of the end of the Gentiles.
"The covenant with Noah remains in force during the times of the Gentiles, until the universal proclamation of the Gospel...Scripture thus expresses the heights of sanctity that can be reached by those who live according to the covenant of Noah, waiting for Christ to "gather into one the children of God who are scattered abroad" (CCC 58).
Gentiles who enter the New Covenant, through the Messiah, also enter on a universal level the covenants and heritage of Israel. Gentile Catholics observe Torah at the universal heart level, as revealed by the Messiah and this manifests in outward observances appropriate for the differing Gentile cultures. The Church of the Circumcision however, like its Jewish Messiah, was to witness to and observe the Torah in the particular as well as the universal.
The Catholic Jew is to be a living icon of the Jewish Messiah for the Gentiles. The Hebrew Catholic family is to be an icon of the Jewish family life of the Holy Family. The Jewish or Hebrew Catholic is now free in the Spirit of the Messiah to observe Judaism at its deepest Messianic depths in joy and from its treasury bring out riches both new and old for the enrichment of the Universal Church and all its peoples.
This revived mother form of Judeo-Christianity will not be a Jewish religious museum but a living,
growing and developing community led by the Spirit into a new blossoming
of Jewish spiritual life in the Church. The spiritual insights of this
Community will take Catholics into new depths of understanding the
Scriptures and to a new level of sanctification. Their Jewish Catholic
mystical understanding will shine a new light of understanding on the
writings and teachings of the Mystical saints of both Catholicism and
Judaism and lead to a deeper Eucharistic devotion and a richer
understanding and appreciation of Perpetual Eucharistic Adoration.
“Many Models, One Church” by Joseph A. Komonchak discusses the concepts of “diversity in unity” and “fullness in unity”. He refers to Cardinal Avery Dulles five models of the church. He then discusses Yves Congar’s approach to Catholicity. Central to the understanding of the Catholicity of the Church in this article is the quote in Lumen Gentium (#13).
“In virtue of this catholicity each individual part contributes through its special gifts to the good of the other parts and of the whole Church. Through the common sharing of gifts and through the common effort to attain fullness in unity, the whole and each of the parts receive increase.”
Komonchak
believes that true Catholicity means to be committed to ‘diversity in
unity’, which he sees is an expression of the Vatican II concept of
‘fullness of unity’. Komonchak
also refers to the teaching of Pope John Paul II, in regards to Lumen
Gentium #13, that the Catholic Church is a communion of diverse local
churches with one another. These diverse local churches enrich and
challenge one another. Pope John Paul II saw his own role as the successor of
Peter as a ministry to serve this enriching ‘diversity in unity’.
Pope John Paul II perceived that this restoration of the ‘fullness of
unity’ could not be complete without the contribution, reunion and
spirituality of the Eastern Orthodox churches. In 'Orientale Lumen' he
expresses his ardent desire for a "full manifestation of the Church's
catholicity to be restored to the world" in the context of the reunion
of the Eastern Orthodox Churches. In his encyclical ‘Ut Unam Sint’ he
writes:
“In this perspective an expression which I have frequently employed finds its deepest meaning: the Church must breathe with her two lungs! In the first millennium of the history of Christianity, this expression refers primarily to the relationship between Byzantium and Rome…the vision of the full communion to be sought is that of unity in legitimate diversity.”The Second Vatican II was also concerned with this ‘fullness of unity’ in regards to reconciliation of the Eastern and Western Churches. In ‘Unitatis Redintegratio’ it states,
“The very rich liturgical and spiritual heritage of the Eastern Churches should be known, venerated, preserved and cherished by all. They must recognize that this is of supreme importance for the faithful preservation of the fullness of Christian tradition, and for bringing about reconciliation between Eastern and Western Christians.”The Russian theologian, philosopher and writer Vladimir Soloviev also wrote of the importance of the reconciliation of the Eastern and Western Church, especially in regards to his own faith tradition, the Russian Orthodox Church. He also stressed the need for the Petrine Ministry for the full functioning of the Church. Soloviev also stresses that this full reunion of East and West can only come about through the ethno-religious community of the Jews or Judaism. He believes that it is the Jews, in both the Western and Eastern Churches, that will bring about this fullness. If the Eastern and Western Churches are the lungs of the Mystical Body of Christ, then Judaism is the heart that pumps blood to the lungs. Besides the lungs and heart there are many other diverse but important parts of this Mystical Body.
The understanding that the church is not uniform but has ‘diversity through unity’ is very important. Too many Western Catholics whether liberal, modernist, neo-orthodox, orthodox, traditional, conservative, Latin traditionalists etc. see the Church and it’s spirituality as uniform or they desire the Church to be uniform and are displeased with its rich diversity. I like the image of the Church as a rich and tasty banquet made up of different dishes from which one can partake and enjoy. However, if we take all these dishes and put them in one giant bowl, one ends up with a horrid and tasteless mess which we call uniformity.
The unity of the church is preserved through the Petrine Ministry and the infallible magisterial teachings of faith and morals. However, while remaining within the bounds of these teachings (always interpreted with the priority of love and mercy) and in loving union with Peter’s successor, there is immense room for great diversity in customs, rituals, spiritualities, philosophical approaches, charisms, devotions, dress, music, dance, artistic representations, institutions, evangelistic methodologies and theologies. Uniformities whether to the right or the left in my opinion deform the mystical Body of Christ and its witness in the world.
Identifying distinct ecclesiological models of the New or Second Testament period is a subject fraught with assumptions and speculations. Many theologians have adopted assumptions about the early Church that are based more on their own (or their favourite scholar’s) self-created literary theories than on any scientific or historical evidence. They speak of imaginary Markan, Lukan, Johannine, Pauline, Petrine etc communities for which there is no archaeological, historical or philological evidence. However, the Second Testament is full of what Komtov and Lepakhin call literary or verbal icons of the Church.
One of the icons of the Church, which has had prominence in the Western Church, due especially to St Augustine, is the icon of the Church as Holy City or City of God. This idea has also a Sophiological and Marian dimension and understanding of the Church, which is also found in Eastern rite Christianity especially in Russian Orthodoxy. This perceives the Church as both Wisdom and Mother, which when understood in a mystical and spiritual sense bears good fruit in a richness of diversity in unity but mixed with politics and power can become totalitarian, oppressive, conformist, uniform, utilitarian and monolithic (rather than universal). The visible man-made structures of the Church can then appear more like Lilith or Dame Folly, rather than the maternal Lady of Wisdom of which the humble Virgin Miriam or the Repentant Miriam of Magdala is the icon or model.
Jewish tradition as taught by Breslov Hasidism refer to these “wings of the sun” as the sun garments or coverings (bridal garments of the Chatan), which allows God’s glory and Will to be perceived by his creatures. The “wings of the sun” that brings healing is the teachings of the True Tzaddik (righteous one). This True Tzaddik thus fashions vessels that allow us to encounter God’s glory (kavod) and presence (shekhinah) in our lives. Thus, the Chuppah alludes to the Sun Temple (tent or tabernacle) where the Sun Bridegroom consummates his union with his Bride (who is symbolised by the Moon) at the midnight hour (see the parable of the Wise and Foolish Virgins). At the moment of consummation the Moon Bride eclipses her Lover the Sun Bridegroom. This alludes to the darkness and hiddenness of mystery and sacrament.
This mystical, incarnational and sacramental understanding of the Church has had a revival today in the teachings of Pope John Paul II on the “theology of the Body”. Thus, the icon of the Church as Chuppah is closely linked to the icons of the Church as Body of the Messiah and Temple and Tabernacle of the Lord, as well as the Bride of Messiah and Betrothed Virgin.
The concepts of theological poetry and storytelling are connected to the concept of literary iconology, rather than just limited to a literal poem or story. The ancient Greeks associated the term deep poetry with the creative arts, such as dance, movement, music, song, lyrics, tune, melody and storytelling. Rebbe Nachman taught that music, melody, dance and song could turn depression and sadness into joy. The Eastern Church fathers stressed the therapeutic dimension of Christian faith and they also spoke of verbal or literary icons.Thus, this deep poetry has therapeutic power that leads to divinisation or theosis.Theosis or divinisation means becoming God-like or becoming whole by living in God’s will perfectly.
…For the zoharic kabbalists, the interpretation of Torah is “level upon level, concealed and revealed”: each concealed level that is revealed exposes yet another concealed level above or within itself, and so on to infinity.The Zohar Rabbis thus get involved with this dynamic and multi-vocal process in order to unite, in ever greater unity, the human and divine as well as the masculine and feminine. This is a truly incarnational form of hermeneutics as the male Divine Word took flesh or humanity in the womb of the perfectly created woman. By drawing from the Biblical story this mystical world of the Zohar itself becomes a story that has a surface meaning with further hidden depths. It is an erotic divine-human love story engaged by truly erotic men. Erotic love is warm, openhearted and generous. This way of reading Scripture allows for a God who is not the unmoved first cause of Greek philosophy but the most moved mover of the Scriptures. Not only does one perceive the erotic love (eros) of the story of the Zohar but the Bible itself is now perceived as a truly erotic epic of love - a poetry and ballet of the soul.
In Hasidic Judaism the machine (chishbon) of the Universe is connected with the terms of Hishtalshelut and Shalshalet ha-Cheshbon as a kind of designed chain or order or computation, in which the Universe comes forth from nothing (ayin, shumdavar) from the Divine Will. The Universe is a kind of giant Computer that works according to its metaphysical dna. The Hebrew words Chishbon and Cheshbon have the verbal root חשב meaning to “think,” but it is used in the Biblical Hebrew for devising, planning, inventing or counting, all being forms of “thinking.” The noun form, חשב (Cheshev), has the meaning of a skillfully woven band (see Exodus 28:8).
The concept of those who live in Divine Will participating in this process can be linked to the Jewish concept of being bound in the bond of Life and the Catholic concept of the unity or role of the Communion of Saints. Jewish and Catholic saints participated in this life, with this tikkun ha Olam (reparation of the world), in a partial way of following the Divine Will but since 1889 the grace has been given to participate in this in a fuller way of living in Divine Will on earth by faith. Those who do so are united to all the departed souls, who are bound in the bond of life in the communion of saints, allowing those souls to participate through them, in order to complete their imperfect acts and divinise them in the Divine Will as divine and eternal acts. In this way, they become one with the divine and eternal acts of Yeshua, Miriam and Yosef in the Holy House of Nazareth, which in a manner that is mystical reality rather than just mystical, encompasses all of Heaven and Earth.