MORE LESSONS FROM THE SEPHIROS
There are ten basic colors. Each color corresponds to one of the ten Sephiros.445Tikkunei Zohar, foreword pg. 1a.
The Color White
White is the color of chesed. That is why milk is white and not green or red. Most of our food comes at some cost. Consider the efforts one must expend to earn a livelihood and thus purchase food. Human pain, discomfort, and frustrating failures are usually part of the process. This lesson can be found in the etymology of the Hebrew word for “bread,” lechem. Lechem shares the same three-letter root with the words, lechimah, “battle,” and milchamah, “war.” The reason for this association is that acquiring bread demands perseverance through a struggle. Bread is the universal food staple and thus symbolizes all food.
Why is it so hard to provide food? Man’s first sin was eating from the tree of knowledge. As a result of this sin, Divine gevurah, harsh restraint, was aroused. God then cursed man:
Because you listened to the voice of your wife and ate of the tree about which I commanded you saying, “You shall not eat of it,” accursed is the ground because of you; through suffering shall you eat of it all the days of your life. Thorns and thistles shall it sprout for you, and you shall eat the herb of the field. By the sweat of your brow shall you eat bread until you return to the ground, from which you were taken (Gen. 3:17-18).
Due to this curse most efforts to attain food entail contending with gevurah, Divine harshness.
Most food items have a trace of this harshness within them. Milk is different. Milk is the gift of a mother to her child. The love from a mother to her newborn is absolute and overwhelming. The nourishment the baby receives is pure kindness. A baby is never asked to earn his food in any manner. This is why a mother’s milk is lily-white. It is pure chesed.446Emunas Etecha, Parashas Devarim, pg. 211, s.v. u-vein tofel ve-lavan.
The manna in the desert required little effort to attain. It was the bread of kindness, imbued with the light of chesed. This is why Moses states that manna’s starkest characteristic was its white color (see Exod. 16:31).
During Shavuos, which celebrates the receipt of the Torah, we have the custom of eating dairy products. Maybe the reason for this custom is that dairy products are all products of milk and as a result these white foods are expressions of Divine chesed. The gift of Torah was a display of unmitigated love, hence the custom of eating food that displays Divine giving.447There are many things humans do as a result of subconscious motivations. Some of those motivations are directives from the soul. Perhaps the reason why doctors wear white is that the healing profession is a vocation of chesed. Since white is the color of kindness and love, these practitioners wear its color. In recent years it has become quite widespread for many doctors to wear scrubs that are blue and green. Perhaps the reason for this is that they are no longer motivated by pure kindness to engage in healing the ill, which is why their souls no longer seek to be clothed in white (Rav Wolfson).
The first stage in the creation of the physical world was a display of Divine chesed. King David expressed this fact with his phrase olam chesed yibbaneh, “The world is built on kindness” (Ps. 89:3). The first place that God created was the Temple mount in Jerusalem. The Temple mount contains a stone, called even shesiyah—the foundation stone—for it was the foundation of the world. Since the world began with kindness, the Temple mount is a place where there are continual downpours of Godly generosity. That is why Moses called it Levanon (Lebanon), from the root lavan, “white.” White is the color of giving and the Temple, and its moun- tain are the places where Divine gifts, accompanied with tender feelings that resemble a mother’s concerns for her newborn, continually appear.448In the realm of time the world began on Rosh Hashanah, the first day of the month Tishrei (Tikkunei Zohar pg. 81b). The numerical value of Rosh Hashanah (861) equals the value of the words for Jerusalem’s Temple, Beis Ha-Mikdash (Emunas Etecha, Parashas Ki Savo pg. 2, s.v. u-matzasi, quoting the Imrei Noam). Rav Yitzchak Hutner in his work Pachad Yitzchak (Rosh Hashanah, Kuntres Ha-Chesed) posits that the very nature of Rosh Hashanah demands that observant Jews perform acts of kindness. Since Rosh Hashanah is the beginning of the world, and the beginning was an appearance of Godly kindness, man must emulate his maker and at the time of beginning give gifts to all.
One might ask on this lesson of Rav Hutner and on what was written in the text the following question: As first beginnings one would think that Rosh Hashanah and the Temple should be manifestations of keser? The text described their essence as chesed? In a private conversation, the Stitchiner Rebbe told me that, in truth, both keser and chesed are displays of kindness. Keser is the love and kindness that transcends reason while chesed is acts of kindness that emerge from intuition, understanding, and internalization. If I feel that it makes sense to help someone and then I help him, it is chesed, while instinctual, trans-logical giving is keser. Thus, Rosh Hashanah as the day of keser demands a display of kindness that is above logic and justification and the Temple Mount as the place of keser is the place where there are constant flows of spiritual gifts, emerging from a Love that transcends logic, understanding, or explanation.
During the beginning of the Hebrew month Av the Jewish nation suffered many tragedies.449The Mishnah states: “On the ninth of Av it was decreed that our fore-fathers [the generation that had left Egypt] would not enter Israel, the first and second Temples in Jerusalem were destroyed, the city Beitar was captured, and the city was plowed over” (Ta’anis 26b). As a result of its sad history the beginning of the month of Av is a time of mourning (see Code of Jewish Law, Orach Chaim 550-559). As a result, there is a custom to refrain from eating meat during the first nine and a half days of the month.450Orach Chaim 551:10. Perhaps this custom is meant to encourage the ingestion of dairy products. Food from milk is usually white and has within it traces of chesed, Divine giving. At a time of year when the Jews suffered Divine limitations, traditional custom mandates eating white foods to arouse Divine mercy, compassion, and generosity.451Emunas Etecha, Parashas Devarim pg. 211.
The Color of Gevurah
Red and black are the colors of gevurah—restraint. Even the secular soul senses this directive, which is why a red light is the universal stop sign. It tells the driver or pedestrian, “Restrain yourself.” According to the Talmud, black is really spoiled red,452See Sukkah 33b. so black is also a color of restraint.453Perhaps the white keys on the piano are displays of chesed, which is why they produce beautiful notes. The black keys are displays of gevurah, which is why their sounds are only appealing when they are combined together with the sounds of chesed (Rav Wolfson).
The Green Mean
Green is the color of tiferes—harmony. Harmony is the key to Judaism. According to Maimonides,454Laws of Dei’os. balance and moderation, the blending together of extremes, is the approach one should use in all attributes. For instance, Jewish law states, “Do not be penurious, but do not throw away all your money either.” According to the Maharal, the reason our holidays are in spring and autumn is to demonstrate that the ideal is a time that has some cold and some warmth, not a time of extreme swelter or ice.455During the extreme of heat, we have the fast of the ninth of Av, commemorating the loss of the Temple. And during the extreme of winter we have the month of Teives, during which evil forces have great potency. The land of Israel is in the middle of the world456The nations call this area, “the Middle East” (heard from the Stitchiner Rebbe). as it should be a place of the blending together of extremes and the discovery of the golden mean. Most of the natural world is green to demonstrate that harmony is the ideal and key to life.457Heard from the Stitchiner Rebbe.
Ten Tunes
There are ten terms of song in the book of Psalms. There were ten authors of the Psalms. Each author excelled in one of these ten forms of poetry. Why ten and not seven or eight? The ten types of melody correspond to the ten Sephiros.458See further the Sfas Emes to the Psalms. Each type of song can help purify an aspect of the human personality that corresponds to one of the ten Sephiros.459Chasidim teach that the misdeed of a man spilling seed is a source of enormous spiritual damage. Maintaining purity in this realm is called shemiras ha-bris, “preserving the covenant.” Rabbi Nachman of Breslov revealed a means of rectifying misdeeds in this realm. He called this healing prayer the Tikkun Ha-Kelali. It is a collection of ten chapters of Psalms, each of which begins with a different type of song. Through recital of the songs that parallel the ten Sephi-ros every aspect of the human personality and the world can be healed.
The following selections from Rabbi Aryeh Kaplan’s commentary to Rabbi Nachman’s stories clarify the lesson of the types of melody: “Ten types of melody Rabbi Nachman himself taught that the Ten Psalms were a ‘General rectification’ [tikkun kelali] for all sins, particularly sexual sins, and especially those involving emitting seed in vain [Likkutei Moharan 205; Likkutei Moharan Tinyana 92]. These involved the ten types of melody found in the Psalms. The Ten Psalms are numbers 16, 32, 41, 42, 59, 77, 90, 105, 137, 150.”
“The Psalms as a whole also contain all ten different types of song [Tikku-nei Zohar 13; Likkutei Moharan Tinyana 92]. King David ended the book with Psalm 150, which contains the expression halelu-hu (“Praise Him”) ten times. The last of these is, “Praise Him with cymbals of teruah” (Ps. 150:5), because the teruah [staccato] also includes all ten types of song” (Likkutei Halachos, Even Ha-Ezer, Peru U-Rvu 3:10).
“Sin and spiritual damage are associated with sadness and depression. The healing is therefore through song, which brings joy” (Cf. Likkutei Moharan 24). “The ten songs were also alluded to in the ten sounds of the shofar. On Rosh Hashanah the shofar is sounded in the following manner: tekiah shevarim teruah tekiah; tekiah shevarim tekiah; tekiah teruah tekiah. Thus, there are a total of ten sounds. These allude to the ten types of song. Furthermore, on Rosh Hashanah, in the Musaf service, ten verses of malchiyos [kingship], ten verses of zichronos [remembrances], and ten verses of shofros [trumpet blasts] are recited. Each set of ten also parallels the ten types of song. Rosh Hashanah is the beginning of the ten days of repentance; therefore it has these ten types of song. Song is the basis of repentance, since song leads to joy and joy brings one to the side of merit (Likkutei Moharan 282). It is only through the ten types of song that those who are far from God can be brought back (Likkutei Halachos, Peru U-Rvu 3:10). “The ten days of repentance also parallel the ten types of song. We begin these ten days with Rosh Hashanah, where all ten types of song are brought into play through the ten sounds of the shofar. Shofar is the rectification of these ten types of song, as it is written, “Make song good with the teruah sound” (Ps. 33:3). The Psalm says, “God will rise in teruah; God will rise in the sound othe shofar. Sing to God sing” (Ps. 47:6) (Likkutei Halachos, Peru U -Rvu 3:10). “The ten days of repentance end with Yom Kippur. This completes the ten types of song” (Likkutei Halachos, Peru U-Rvu 3:11, Rabbi Nachman’s Stories pgs. 418-420).
Shabbos and the Tzaddik
A tzaddik is also clothed with the ten lights, the ten forces of holiness that emerged from the ten Sephiros. His first thoughts are holy (chochmah). His comprehending intellect is dedicated to understanding the Divine and increasing love for Him (binah).
His internalization is a reflection of his essence (da’as as an expression of keser). He channels chesed to absolute generosity. He knows when to withdraw (gevurah), and he balances giving with withholding (tiferes). He knows when to dominate (netzach) and when to submit (hod). He uses his creative organ in a holy manner (yesod). And lastly, he views himself as a humble vessel of his Maker (malchus).
In Lesson Two we learned that the tzaddik is a person through whom all members of mankind are blessed. The ten Sephiros are the reason for this central role of the tzaddik.
The ten Sephiros are the keys to the Universe. God sends life to all creatures through His ten Sephiros. The tzaddik is clothed with a glow from all ten, which is why the tzaddik is the channel through which the life-force of the entire universe flows.
We also learned in Lesson Two that the tzaddik is a manifestation of Shabbos in the realm of person. Shabbos is a time when all ten forces of creation are partially revealed. In Psalm 29, which is recited as an acceptance of Shabbos, these forces are mentioned. The psalm begins as a song to David. Then it states,
Havu la-Hashem bnei eilim, havu la-Hashem kavod va-oz, havu la-Hashem kevod shemo.
Bring forth to God mighty sons. Bring forth to God honor and strength. Bring forth to God the honor due His name.
The psalm mentions the word havu, “bring forth,” three times. These three gifts are the first three Sephiros—the first three statements of creation. The chapter proceeds to describe seven sounds of God. These seven sounds are the seven notes of music, and they parallel the seven lower Sephiros. This psalm is recited to usher in the holiness of Shabbos. It mentions all ten Sephiros, since on Shabbos all ten holy forces of creation, and the ten holy personality parts of man, are revealed in some measure and are spiritually renewed.