Passover 26

As I have noted n the past, the imagery of Kaballah is often of a sexual nature. G-d is the male figure, the bestower, while Man, the Jewish People, the Holy Shechinah (Divine Presence; Indwelling) are the female bestowees. In the menstrual laws (which I have discussed in an earlier series), after the woman's monthly bleeding, she performs a self-examination to determine that the bleeding has, in fact, stopped. After that, she observes seven "clean days", after which she immerses in the mikveh, and is reunited physically, as well as emotionally, with her husband. From the perspective of Kabbalah, the Seven Clean Days represent the seven emotional sefirot, which must be dealt with and perfected before the ultimate unity can occur. The Torah says that she must "count seven days". The word "count" is the same word used to denote the counting of the Omer, and has at its root the word "sapphire". The emotions need to be cleansed and made to shine. The Zohar states boldly that during the Egyptian oppression, Israel, and the Shechinah, were in a state of "menstruation", i.e., impurity and alienation from G-d. The Exodus was the "self-examination", followed by the seven-week journey to Sinai to receive the Torah. At the Giving of the Torah, we are told that a "dew" descended upon the Israelite camp. The Zohar states that this was the "Immersion of the Bride". (The first three letters of the Divine Name, can be spelled out "YUD VAV DALET, HEH ALEF, VAV ALEF VAV", and make the numerical equivalent of thirty-nine, the same as "Tal" (Dew). These are to be united with eh HEH; the Divine Feminine. There is a Midrash that Mount Sinai was lifted above them like a marriage canopy. The moment of Revelation was the "mating" of G-d and the Shechinah; G-d and Israel. Anyone who observes the rules of Family Purity will testify that after the period of separation, even couples who have been married for decades feel like newlyweds. Thus, the evening following our reenactment of the Exodus, we begin counting seven weeks, seven times seven "clean days". In many prayer books, there is a notation of what combination of emotions is to be dealt with that day. We are on our way to Sinai, but not there yet. We anticipate the wonderful moment. Alienation is still there, but will soon come to an ecstatic end. We remain awake Shavu'ot night, preserving the purity we have attained, adorning ourselves like a bride. The Kabbalah understands the mourning of the Sefirah period as the expression of the "not quite married yet" feeling of frustration. The joyous culmination will take place on Shavu'ot. One great eighteenth-century rabbi, HIDA, even went so far as to state that our observance of the semi mourning time of the Omer period has absolutely nothing to do with the students of Rabbi Akiva, but rather with this great cosmic mystery of alienation and reunification. I must say that this appeals to my sense of the joy of Judaism much more.