Genesis Cycle Three 6:9 to 11:32

Noach


The parsha Noah brings us face to face with the Lurianic catastrophe, the deluge of God’s radiance. In the love language of God, in other words, in the use of imagery to evoke consciousness, the two forces of water and light are like Adam and Eve or the animals that enter the ark two by two. They balance each other. They go side by side, hand in hand. The parasha therefore is not about destruction. It’s about the amazing symmetry and exactness that create the building blocks of regeneration. This focus is the only way to both physically and spiritually survive.

Before we begin, here’s a generalized review of the Lurianic catastrophe as conveyed by Scholem and Arthur Green. We begin with zim zum or creation. This is the contraction of God and therefore the continual forming of an empty space (a point) at the center. It’s a void. That’s where we are. Therefore, we can myopically stare at ourselves and our human-ness (and make things darker) or we can turn in-sight-out and see the radiance. In Lurianic Kabbalah a huge flow of light rushes into the void to bring about balance. This causes the well-known breaking of the vessels. The sefirot can’t handle it. It’s too much. The lower seven sefirot break (except for the Shechinah) and the sparks get buried under what’s known as husks or kelipot. Tikkun olam is the repair of this breakage and the freeing of ourselves and of the Shechinah.

So, once again, how do we get through a rush so great it seems that we will all be buried and our world destroyed?

First, we need to see the signs of impending breakage. We look at ourselves. Who’s the brightest spark? How bright is he really? Noah, we read, was a tzaddick among his generations. Rashi says that the reference to his generations automatically forces us to look at Noah in a relative way. What is he being compared to? Why compare at all? It’s almost like saying…he was righteous but only if you look at the rest of the guys….Therefore, the description of Noah shows the corruption of his people. This is a sign.

We look at our world. If there’s so much destruction it is passive, active, reflexive and causative (such as the verb shachat in Noah) no doubt this is also a sign.

So, given this state of darkness and destruction God will naturally bring about balance…in other words a deluge of light. In short, we create the deep darkness that attracts a flow so great it breaks our very constructs. As it says in our Amidah…You are mighty for all eternity.

Then, we accept transformation. Elohim reaches to Noah who gives God something to reach to. He’s like the ember in the ashes. This is when Noah really becomes righteous because he rises to the occasion. Noah walks with Elohim accompanied by the Shechinah (Zohar).

Next, we prepare. We build not only an ark but the actual Torah, the ark of the covenant (Zohar) so that the Shechinah can be saved. This is one important structure. There needs to be caulking inside and out, a strengthening of our vessel so that we…and the one word… can hold the radiance. There needs to be a skylight so that there are spaces within our sacred vessel for us to further our awareness and vision of God.

But all of this cannot really clinch our survival given the magnitude. We need to look further, in the words, in the letters, in the construction phrase after phrase, cubit after cubit. We need to focus on the poetry and exquisite beauty…on the structure of the action of God within our cells and our creations. There needs to be attention to exact measurements so that there’s balance and flow of our energy within. And strength. As the Zohar says…a lion in his potency pierces pulverized rock. The ark needs to hold the dichotomy of God within all species, manifesting both His dual nature and His oneness. This focus is what will finally allow us to break out of our very breakage.

So may we allow generous offspring and our fruitful mitzvoth to issue from the ark when the land dries. May we become the foundation for future generations since the righteous one is the foundation of the world (Zohar). May we stop focusing on the void and the darkness and lift our faces to the continually contracting and expanding God-head so that in time, within the innermost gem of destruction/creation, we may all merge as one.