"She is a Tree of Life for those who hold on to Her"
FIRST THINGS FIRST.....
You must ask the question "What does Toledot mean?" You need to do this every Torah portion when you are learning Torah. Remember, we are not reading Torah, we are learning it, it is our teacher! The guide book to the galaxy!
Toledot: תּוֹלְדֹת—Hebrew for "generations" or "descendants,give birth, begotten
"And these are the generations of Isaac" (Gen 25:19)
Genesis 5:1-2
This is the book of the generations (תּוֹלְדֹ֖ת) of Adam. In the day when God created man, He made him in the likeness of God. He created them male and female, and He blessed them and named them Man in the day when they were created.
You see the word "toledot" in this piece in Genesis before this actual parasha. What is this telling us? That the 'generations' of Adam are the 'generations of Isaac.' The Holy One's image is continuing to be manifest through the generations of the Torah, ie. Abraham, Isaac and Yaakov. These are the souls of humanity that are being brought into this world via the channels above, this is why learning the Sephirot Structure is must! (See my article on this "Let there be Light!) to better understand these generations that are iterating out of the family Tree of Life!
Let's Zoom.....
In Zohar Toledot, Rabbi Chiya leads us to an understanding of our relationship between the Creator, Torah and Man. We see how the world is maintained by Torah study, and why it is man's supreme duty to continue this study. We learn that true servants of the Creator are not only those from Yisrael, but anyone anywhere who studies the Torah.
Toldot: Verse 1
"And these are the generations of Isaac..." (Beresheet 25:19). Rabbi Chiya opens,
"Who can utter the mighty acts of Hashem? Who can declare all His praise?" (Tehilim 106:2). Come and behold, when the Holy One, blessed be He, wished to create the world, He did so according to the Torah. And every act that the Holy One, blessed be He, used to create the world was done according to the Torah. This is the meaning of, "then I was by him, as a nursling, and I was daily his delight" (Mishlei 8:30). Do not pronounce it as "a nursling," (Heb. amon) but rather 'a craftsman' (Heb. oman), BECAUSE IT WAS A TOOL FOR HIS CRAFT, ie TORAH!"
Dinah says: "What we need to understand first, is that Torah is not a mere book. The Torah has birthed more wisdom and understanding in this world than any other teaching known to man. Most of the major religions iterate out from it. The Torah is literally the blueprint of all of creation. It is through this blueprint that all of creation would manifest, including us!
Look at it like the Creator is the Great Architect and He has devised a thought, a plan, in his mind on creating. The Torah (22 letters and all their possible combinations) are present in the thought, and in combining them the Creator in thought is building creation as we know it. Just like we begin our 'projects' in our thoughts first.
This is why when we learn Torah, truly, we begin seeing that it is not a book as we know it. We are looking at an aspect of the thought and mind of the Creator through the garments of stories in the Torah. Each story is expressing a deep secret, literally the Secrets of the Universe!"
Toldot: Verse 2
כַּד בָּעָא לְמִבְרֵי אָדָם אָמְרָה תּוֹרָה קַמֵּיהּ, אִי בַּר נָשׁ יִתְבְּרֵי, וּלְבָתַר יֶחֱטֵי, וְאַנְתְּ תִּידוֹן לֵיהּ, אַמַּאי יְהוֹן עוֹבָדֵי יְדָךְ לְמַגָּנָא, דְּהָא לָא יֵיכוֹל לְמִסְבַּל דִּינָךְ, אֲמַר לָהּ קוּדְשָׁא בְּרִיךְ הוּא, הָא אַתְקֵינַת תְּשׁוּבָה, עַד לָא בָרָאתִי עַלְמָא, אֲמַר קוּדְשָׁא בְּרִיךְ הוּא לְעַלְמָא, בְּשַׁעֲתָע דַּעֲבַד לֵיהּ, וּבְרָא לְאָדָם, אָמַר לוֹ עַלְמָא עַלְמָא, אַנְתְּ וְנִימוּסָךְ, לָא קָיְימִין אֶלָּא עַל אוֹרַיְיתָא .וּבְגִין כָּך בָּרָאתִי לֵיהּ לָאָדָם בָּךְ, בְּגִין דְּיִתְעַסַּק בָּהּ. וְאִי לָאו, הָא אֲנָא אַהֲדַר לָךְ, לְתֹהוּ וָבֹהוּ וְכֹלָּא בְּגִינֵיהּ דְּאָדָם קָיְימָא, הה"ד אָנֹכִי עָשִׂיתִי אֶרֶץ וְאָדָם עָלֶיהָ בָּרָאתִי. וְאוֹרַיְיתָא קָיְימָא וּמַכְרְזָא קַמַּיְיהוּ דִּבְנֵי נָשָׁא, בְּגִין דְּיִתְעַסְּקוּ וְיִשְׁתַּדְּלוּ בָּהּ וְלֵית מַאן דְּיַרְכִין אוּדְנֵיהּ.
"When He wanted to create man, the Torah said to him, 'If man is created, he will sin, and you will punish him. Would not Your handwork then be in vain? After all, he will not be able to endure the punishment."
Dinah says:" When it arose in the thought of G-d to create, it was seen and known that in order to create man there would be a dual nature created with it. This dual nature would create a positive and negative polarity. This is where the possibility of 'sin' or becoming 'mis-aligned' comes in. This 'mis-alignment' to the interfacing system of the Creator cause problems, ie. punishments.
It is not as if the Being is 'punishing' you, it is the system itself that G-d created that is now reacting to your 'mis-alignment.' This is why it so important to learn 'how the system works.'
Now remember sin in Hebrew is called 'cheit', it means 'miscalculation or misalignment.' Not sin as the christian world has taught. Albeit, when we are misaligned or out of balance with creation and Creator then punishment or negativity does come to us. But even the negative state has something to reveal to us!"
The Holy One, blessed be He, replied, 'I created teshuva before I created the world. IF HE WILL SIN, HE WILL BE ABLE TO REPENT AND BE FORGIVEN.'
Dinah Says: "Would creation then be all in vain, producing no results. The Creator says, "No!" he will endure the 'mis-alignment' and imbalances that come to him because I have already created the remedy, Teshuva! The very tool to 're-align' himself to me." To return and re-establish his connection to me!"
The RETURN was built in the system, our way back is right there in front of us. But like all tools, you have to use them in order to rebuild something. Leaving them in the tool box while the house is falling apart doesn't get us anywhere. in fact as The Zohar states, it leads us back to a state of destruction a place of chaos and void."
When the Holy One, blessed be He, created the world and created Adam, He said to it, 'World, world, you and your nature are based solely upon the Torah, and for that reason I created man in you, to be occupied with the study of the Torah. And if he does not STUDY THE TORAH, I will return you to chaos. Everything is for man.' This is the meaning of the verse, "I have made the earth, and created man upon it" (Yeshayah 45:12). The Torah proclaims to men to be occupied with and endeavor in the study of the Torah, but no one lends an ear. -Zohar 1:134b
Dinah says:"Man was forged out of the very letter combinations (think of spiritual DNA) of the Torah, as it says "I created man in you". We were created from the Torah, this is why the Creator desires us and even 'commands' us to learn Torah.
My whole life I have chased after the Creator, I knew in my heart at a young age that if I could know this G-d I would know myself. It wasn't until I came back to Torah with the eyes to see that I truly understood that we are forged from this wisdom and knowledge, we are entrained in the very stories, we are it and it is us.
When we do not learn the Torah, the Creator makes it clear that it is as if we are no longer being apart of the creative process of life, we are not engaging with the very essence of our being and when we do not do this, everything goes back to chaos, in Klal (collective) and prat (individual). Like I said, Torah is not what you think it is, it is more and beyond!
This is how much our Creator loves us. When it arose in the Creator's thought to create, it was understood that the act of creation would bring the act of negation. That is the Creator's light itself would have to be, inverted. What is the complete light of bestowal (giving) and love of the highest frequency would be distorted or disturbed in order for creation to exist.
This negation of God's light would in turn produce the dual world we live in. The world of good and evil, separated. It was as if the Creator is dreaming of our existence and in that moment sees the fall of It's own consciousness and in 'seeing' that fall, immediately creates the RETURN, the way back home. Teshuva is returning back from a fallen state for the individual and the collective souls of all of humanity. It is not just saying your sorry, it is returning back to an aligned state with who you were meant to be and the Creator.
Our life is 'generating' out of the lives in the Torah. We are part of the generations of Isaac, the Sefirah of Gevurah. We are apart of this "Living Story."
Zohar Remedy
"LEARN TORAH & IGNITE THE LIGHT WITHIN YOU"
Throughout my Zohar postings you will see at the end of the post a "Zohar Remedy" that can be practically used in your life, now! The words in the Torah and The Zohar are not just mere words, they are 'living' meaning the letters/numbers are frequencies, and with those frequencies and by those frequencies we can be healed and transformed.
The Remedy before the Problem
"Seven phenomena were created before the world was created, and they are: Torah, and teshuva (return/repentance), the Garden of Eden, and Gehenna, the Throne of Glory, and the Temple, and the name of the Messiah. (Talmud: Nedarim 39b)"
From this we can see that the Creator made the remedy before the dis-ease (imbalance). He made the 'symmetry' (balance) before the 'asymmetry' (imbalance) happens. These remedies are inside Torah and all her iterations, ie. Talmud, Kabbalah, Zohar. "The study of Torah" does not refer to a cerebral, academic approach to thousands of words on parchment. Through the eyes of the Kabbalists, the Torah is understood as the medium through which the energy of the Creator is expressed in our physical dimension of existence.
The sinewy parchment, the coal black ink, and the primordial letters are all intricate components of a divine communication instrument serving one express purpose, to help us to uproot our flaws and in turn attain similarity of nature and thus closeness to the Light of the Creator.
Dinah says: "As a holistic practitioner, it is imperative to stay as close to 'nature' as you can. You were built with the very elements of nature and when we live in a world of synthetic manipulations of nature, we are not receiving the energy or essence properly. Synthetic things are at best a distortion of the original light that is found in the basic elements of life.
These basic four elements (fire, water, wind, earth) are the essence of Elohim. When you eat a herbal plant in its whole form, the body receives it 100%, when you eat a supplement or pill that is made out of the manipulation of the natural elements there is a distortion that takes place in the essence of the thing. This distortion causes a distortion in us, ie. side effects and comes to actually disconnect. For how can something that is 'distorted' actually truly 'correct' us. Natural elements and nature in general are corrective and healing because we 'align' with it, as again we were made from it. When we connect to the natural elements we connect to the Creator.
This is what I believe the 'backside/evil' aspect of this world is doing, disconnecting us from the essence of those natural elements. The synthetic world leads to sterilization and death, for only life comes from life. We are carbon based as is all life on Earth, a war on carbon is a war against life! Remember this when the powers that be cunningly tell you that 'humans' (carbon based) are the problem, that we must reduce the 'carbon foot print.' They are not telling a complete lie, but a half-truth which is worse. In my humble opinion. Truly, humans are not the problem, humans are the solution! Don't ever forget this!
That said, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob signify the Right, Left and Central Column forces - that is, the Desire to Share, the Desire to Receive, and the free will to choose between and balance the two.
The very act of how G-d created is how we act in creation.....We now have the attribute of the desire to share, to give and to receive and the free will to choose between them all. Remember, G-d desired that we would be able to RETURN to the state of RIGHT BEING, it is through our very 'actions' that we attain this. A person who is empowered is a person who takes responsibility for their own actions and know his actions in this world merit everything. G-d named this world, the World of Assi'Yah, the world of Action!
Our action in this Zohar reading is to recognize the "The Tree of Life" is within us, the very structure of all reality in microcosm. "Man is a Tree in the Field" the Torah tells us. And so we are. We embody not only the attributes of G-d within us but the very 'generations' that are spoke about in this Torah portion!
When we read this piece in The Zohar, we are aligning ourselves with the generations of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the generation itself being the sefirah within us, the real family tree is the Tree of Life. That very place in our body our soul that is attached to these 'generations.'
Jacob, who we will soon learn about, also corresponds to the Sefirah of Yesod, the gateway through which all the Light of the supernal realms enters our wo
REMEDY: The purpose of reading this passage in Zohar is to ignite the primordial Light of the Torah. As we meditate upon the words, the emitted Light refines our imperfections. The strength of the Patriarchs, and especially the Central Column Force of Jacob, enhances our ability to resist and triumph over our reactive, self-indulgent drives.
Finally, the Light accumulated through our interaction with the Torah & Zohar shines universally, helping to awaken the world to the internal truths of the Torah and all that the Light of the Creator can offer us.
Notes:
Torah/Zohar verses & Introductions
Zohar, Toledot, Vol. II (Pritzker Edition) pg. 257-260, Zohar, Toledot (online Zohar.com)
Dinah's Comments
Remedy from Zohar (Zohar.com)