KABBALAH - Selected Writings. Bernhard Pick
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the God of Israel the living God, the King of the Universe, the Merciful and Gracious, the High and Exalted God, He who inhabits eternity, Glorious and Holy is His name, hath created the world by means of number, word and writing (or number, numberer, numbered)" I. 1.—The book shows why there are just thirty-two of these. By an analysis of this number it seeks to exhibit, in a peculiar method of theosophical arithmetic, on the assumption that they are the signs of existence and thought, the doctrine that God produced all, and is over all, the universe being a development of original entity, and existence being but thought become concrete; "in short, that instead of the heathenish or popular Jewish conception of the world as outward, or co-existent with Deity, it is co-equal in birth, having been brought out of nothing by God, thus establishing a Pantheistic system of emanation, of which, principally because it is not anywhere designated by name, one would think the writer was not himself quite conscious."
The following will illustrate the curious proof of this argumentation: the number 32 is the sum of 10, the number of the ten fingers (I, 3), and 22, the number of the Hebrew alphabet, this latter being afterwards further resolved into 3+7+12 (1,2). The first chapter (I, 2-8 treats of the decade and its elements, which are called figures in contradistinction from the 22 letters. This decade is the sign-manual of the universe. In the details of this hypothesis the existence of divinity in the abstract is really ignored, though not formally denied. Thus the number one is its spirit as an active principle, in which all worlds and beings are yet enclosed. "One is the spirit of the living God, blessed and again blessed be the Name of Him, Who liveth for ever— Voice and Spirit and Word, and this is the Holy Ghost" (1,9).
Two is the spirit from this spirit, i. e., the active principle in so far as it has beforehand decided on creating; "in it He engraved the twentytwo letters" (I, 10).
Three is water; four is fire; "in it He hewed the throne of glory, the Ophanim9 and Seraphim, the sacred living creatures, and the angels of service, and of these three He founded His dwelling place, as it is said, He maketh His angels breaths, and His ministers a flaming fire (I, 11, 12). The six remaining figures, 5-10, are regarded severally as the sign-manual of height, depth, east, west, north and south, forming the six sides of a cube, and representing the idea of form in its geometrical perfection (I, 13).
In the words of the Book of Creation the hexade is thus described: ''Five: Three letters from out the simple ones; He sealed spirit on the three, and fastened them in His great Name J H V.10 And He sealed with them six outgoings (ends, terminations) ; He turned upwards, and He sealed it with J H V. Six: He sealed below, turned downwards, and sealed it with J V H. Seven: He sealed eastward, He turned in front of Him, and sealed it with H J V. Eight: He sealed westward and turned behind, and sealed it with H V J. Nine: He sealed southward, and turned to His right, and sealed it with V J H. Ten: He sealed northward, and turned to His left, and sealed it with V H J. These are the Sephiroth: (1) Spirit of the living God, and (2) wind [air or spirit?]11 (3) water, and (4) fire; and (5) height above and (6) below, (7) east and (8) west, (9) north and (10) south."
[Scphiroth is the plural of the word Sephirah. Azariel derives the word from saphar, "to number" ; later Cabalists derive it either from saphir, "Saphir," or from the Greek "spheres,"and are not at all certain whether to regard the Sephiroth as "principles,"or as "substances,"or as "potencies, powers,"or as "intelligent worlds,"or as "attributes," or as "entities,"12 or as "organs of the Deity" (Kelim). We might fairly well translate the word Sephiroth by "emanations."]
We see, however, that this alone establishes nothing real, but merely expounds the idea of possibility or actuality, at the same time establishing that which is virtualiter as really existing in God, the foundation of all things, from which the whole universe proceeded. The actual entities are therefore introduced in the subsequent chapters under the twenty-two letters. The connection between the two series is evidently the Word, which in the first Sephira (number) is yet identical in voice and action with the spirit (I, 9) ; but afterwards these elements, separating as creator and substance, together produce the world, the materials of which are represented by the letters, severally divided into gutturals, labials, palatals, linguals and dentals (II, 3), since these by their manifold manifestations, name and describe all that exists.
These twenty-two letters of the alphabet are then divided into three groups, consisting respectively of:
1. The three mothers or fundamental letters (ch. Ill) ;
2. Seven double (ch. IV), and
3. Twelve simple consonants (ch. V).
First are subtracted from the twenty-two letters the three mothers (Aleph, Mem, Shin), i. e., the universal relations of (1) principle, (2) contrary principle, and (3) balance (i. e., the intermediate).
In the world, we have air, water, fire. This means, the heavens are from tire, the earth from water, and the air indicates the intermediate between the lire and the water.
In the year . . . there is fire, and water, and wind. The heat comes from fire, cold from water, and moderation from wind (air) that is intermediate between them.
In man . . there is fire, water and wind. The head is from fire, the belly from water, and the body from wind that is intermediate between them.
The three mothers or fundamental letters are followed by the seven duplicate letters—Beth, Gimel, Daleth, Caph, Pe, Resh, Tau13—duplicate, because they are opposite as life and death; peace and evil; wisdom and folly; riches and poverty; grace and ugliness; fertility and desolation; rule and servitude (IV, 1): These seven duplicate letters correspond to the seven outgoings: above and below, east and west, north and south, and the holy Temple in the middle, and it upbears the whole (IV, 2). From them God created:
In the world. Saturn, Jupiter, Mars, Sun, Venus, Mercury, Moon.
In man Wisdom, Riches, Dominion, Life, Favor, Progeny, Peace.
In the year. . Sabbath, Thursday, Tuesday, Sunday, Friday, Wednesday, Monday.
With these seven letters God also formed the seven heavens, the seven earths or countries, and the seven weeks from the feast of Passover to Pentecost (IV, 3, 4). These letters also represent the seven gates of issue in the soul; two eyes, two ears, and a mouth, and the two nostrils. Turning finally to the twelve single letters (ch. V), they show the relations of things so far as they can be apprehended in a universal category. By means of these twelve letters God created the twelve signs of the zodiac, viz.:
In the world. . . Aries, Taurus, Gemini, Cancer, Leo, Virgo, Libra, Scorpio, Sagittarius, Capricornus, Aquarius, Pisces.
In the year. . . the twelve months, viz.: Nisan, Ijar, Sivan, Tamus, Ab, Elul, Tishri, Cheshvan or Marcheshvan, Kislev, Tebet, Shebat, Adar.
In man . . . the organs of sight, hearing, smelling, talking, taste, copulating, dealing, walking, thinking,
They are so organized by God as to form at once a province, and yet be ready for battle, i. e., they are as well fitted for harmonious as for dissentious action. "God has placed in all things one to oppose the other; good to oppose evil, good to proceed from good, and evil from evil; good to purify evil, and evil to purify good; the good is in store for the good, and the evil is reserved for the evil" (VI, 2). "The twelve are arranged against each other in battle array; three serve love, three hatred; three engender life, and three death. The three loving ones are the heart, the ears and the mouth; the three hating ones: the liver, the gall, and the tongue; but God the faithful King, rules over all three systems. One (i. e., God) is over the three; the three are over the seven; the seven are over the twelve, and all are joined together, the one with the other" (VI, 3).'
We also learn that the twenty-two letters, though a small number, by their power of "combination" and "transposition," yield an endless number of words and figures, and thus become the types of all the varied phenomena in the creation.