“ וַיְדַבֵּר יְהוָה אֶל-מֹשֶׁה בְּמִדְבַּר סִינַי, בְּאֹהֶל מוֹעֵד: בְּאֶחָד לַחֹדֶשׁ הַשֵּׁנִי בַּשָּׁנָה הַשֵּׁנִית, לְצֵאתָם מֵאֶרֶץ מִצְרַיִם–לֵאמֹר”
“And YHVH spoke to Moses in the wilderness of Sinai, in the tent of meeting, on the first day of the second month, in the second year after they had come out of the land of Egypt, saying,
The portion of Bamidbar deals with the counting of the Israelites. For that reason the book is called in English ‘Numbers’. The actual Hebrew name of the book is ‘Bamidbar’, meaning ‘in the wildernesses’. The book on Numbers tells the story of the Israelites in the wilderness, traveling to the Promised Land. We learn that Numbers is the aspect of Zeir Anpin that represents the process of earning the Light. In Leviticus we study about the building of the spiritual tools that were the Holy Tabernacle, the laws of the Torah, and the work of the priests to draw light to the world.
The Zohar asks: why did God mention the tent of meeting (Holy Tabernacle) and the wilderness together, when we know that the Tent of Meeting was only in the wilderness. The Zohar explains that the Tabernacle was mentioned as the aspect of Zeir Anpin and the wilderness for Malchut.
In the same verse we read the date of this event. The Zohar explains that the Israelites left Egypt on the first month, Nisan, that is the aspect of right column and Chessed. On the first day of the second month, Iyyar, of the second year after leaving Egypt they made connection to the left column, Gevurah. Now since they have connection to the Right and Left columns, they are able to connect to the third, Tiferet and central column.
Sivan is the third month and the time when the Israelites received the Torah on Mount Sinai. We will celebrate this event with the Holiday of Shavuot. The balance of the central column connects to the Light and blessings of God.
The counting of the Israelites connects them to the spiritual system, which is a defined expression of the Light of the Endless. We learned before that the word Sefira ספירה means counting.
The aspect of time is very important on the spiritual level. We live in a world that moves in cycles in a forward direction of time. Everything has some kind of measure and limits. There is a different Light force being expressed in every second. If we have affinity with the Light we don’t experience the times of lack or the ups and downs of the ‘pulse of life’.
The events that the Torah instructs us to celebrate have specific times and they connect us to specific Light force. It adds blessings to our lives in many different ways.
In the next DZ we’ll bring the explanation of the Zohar on how to connect to blessings.