Progress
Si las primeras dos parashot, Bereshit y Noé, sirven como un gran preámbulo a la Torá y a la cábala, la tercera parasha, Lej Leja, es una instrucción practica como debemos progresar espiritualmente.
El hombre fue creado como puro egoísta, es decir, todos sus deseos llevan a deleite efímero. En el mismo momento al hombre fue dada la Torá con la cual puede corregir sus deseos para que le den deleite infinito, o sea, el hombre puede volverse altruista.
La Torá es la instrucción para nuestra alma. Es mucho más importante que la estudiemos que llegar al entendimiento.
Gn 12:1 - 17:27
Lej lejaVete por ti
EXPANSIÓNDEL DESEO
LEAVING COMFORT
Spiritual transformation occurs in stages. Each stage, once completed, becomes comfortable for us, but it hinders our progress, because that requires leaving our comfort zone.
Dios habla con Avram, diciéndole "Vete de tu tierra, de tu lugar de nacimiento y de la casa de tu padre, a la tierra que te mostraré". Allí hará de Avram una gran nación. Avram y su mujer Sarai, acompañados por su sobrino Lot, viajan a la Tierra de Cnaan, donde Avram construye un altar y continúa difundiendo el mensaje de dios.
La hambruna causa que el primer judío viaje a Egipto, donde la hermosa Sarai es llevada al palacio del Faraón; Avram se escapa de la muerte porque se presentan como hermano y hermana. Una plaga evita que el rey egipcio toque a Sarai y ella lo convence de que debe devolverla a Avram y compensarlo con oro, plata y ganado.
De vuelta en la Tierra de Cnaan, Lot se separa de Avram y se establece en la ciudad de Sdom, donde es capturado cuando el ejército de Quedarlaomer y sus tres aliados conquistan las cinco ciudades del Valle de Sdom. Avram sale con una pequeña banda a rescatar a su sobrino, derrota a los cuatro reyes, y es bendecido por Malki-Tzedek el rey de Salem (Jerusalén).
Dios sella el Pacto Entre las Partes con Avram, donde el exilio y la persecución (Galut) del pueblo judío le son informados y la Tierra Santa es asignada a ellos como su herencia eterna.
Aún sin hijos diez años luego de su arribo a la Tierra, Sarai le dice a Avram que se case con su sirvienta Hagar. Hagar concibe, se vuelve insolente hacia su señora, y se escapa cuando Sarai la trata duro; un ángel la convence de retornar y le dice que su hijo será el padre de una nación numerosa. Ishmael nace en el año 86 de la vida de Avram.
Trece años después, Dios cambia el nombre de Avram por Avraham ("padre de multitudes") y el de Sarai por Sara ("princesa"), y promete que tendrán un hijo; de este hijo, a quien deben llamar Itzjak ("se reirá"), surgirá la gran nación con la cual dios establecerá su pacto especial.
Avraham es mandado a circuncidarse a si mismo y a sus descendientes como una señal del pacto entre él y dios.
CHESED - EXPANSION
En el sentido sefirotico Abraham represenda sefira jésed, la primera y la más importante de las sefirot emotivas. Con jésed empieza la parte ejecutiva de la creación.
Recordemos que nos dice la Torá en referencia al primer día de la creación:
1 En el principio creó Dios los cielos y la tierra. 2 Y la tierra estaba sin orden y vacía, y las tinieblas cubrían la superficie del abismo, y el Espíritu de Dios se movía sobre la superficie de las aguas.
Estos dos versículos corresponden a la jojmá y la biná, y en la perspectiva de la Torá entera las dos parashot anteriores, Bereshit y Noé, corresponden a la jojmá y la biná, respectivamente. Es decir, tenemos una idea que tiene que empezar a desarrollarse - eso ocurre con Abraham.
3 Entonces dijo Dios: Sea la luz. Y hubo luz. 4 Y vio Dios que la luz era buena; y separó Dios la luz de las tinieblas. 5 Y llamó Dios a la luz día, y a las tinieblas llamó noche. Y fue la tarde y fue la mañana: un día.
La tarea principal de Abraham, que es el jésed, es separarse de Lot (tinieblas). Lot representa deseo de recibir, mientras que Abraham es puro dar. Es muy importante que separemos esas dos propiedades fundamentales del mundo espiritual, sin que destruyamos el deseo de recibir.
RIGHT-HAND PATH
Abraham represents, in addition to chesed, the right pillar of the tree of life.
ויאמר יהוה אם אראך׃
12 1 The Lord had said to Abram, “Go from your country, your people and your father’s house to the land I will show you.
Abraham also represents a leader and a man who trusts the Creator completely. These two qualities, leadership and trust, signify the attribute of giving.
Each of us must recognize how to lead ourselves, how to control ourselves, and in what segment of collective life we can and should lead others. This is undoubtedly true for the Kabbalist. Guiding is certainly a property of giving. Abraham guides through the use of the knowledge he receives on his "external" and "internal" journeys. When he leaves his former place or his previous spiritual level, he learns. This knowledge is immediately transmitted. This is how each of us must act in the area of life where we are assigned a unique role.
Abraham is also the first to be called a Hebrew. The word ha-ivri is derived from the verb "to cross over." Abraham crossed over to the other side. What exactly does this mean? Abraham is the only one on this other side. On one hand, Abraham accumulates knowledge through travels and experiences in the material world, and on the other hand, he believes in and trusts the Creator, whom Abraham does not yet know. That is why we say he is the only one there because there is no one else to learn from. We all have to do some things on our own! That is also why we say that trust is giving. However, this only applies to the trust we put into practice. If we only trust before we have acquired all the necessary and available knowledge to a certain level, this is trust in the function of acceptance, and therefore, we cannot progress.
Progress, spiritual elevation, is always related to our capacity to give.
Abraham describes very well the words lej-leja (go for yourself!), These are the first words spoken by the creator.
...to the land I will show you
In the drawing, we see Abraham's task, or rather, how we reach Chokhmah and beyond it. There, beyond Chokhmah, we connect with Keter, a new will. Abraham and Lot achieve Chokhmah together. Together they obtain wisdom and benefit from it. But only Abraham goes further. Lot's will, his intention, is to "receive," and Abraham's intention is to give.
The knowledge Abraham receives is how to transform some of his desires to receive into desires to give. Lot represents the remaining desires to receive that are not yet ready for such transformation.
Then Abraham connects with Keter, which becomes Da'at (knowledge). Da'at is like an intellectual seed that enters the emotions of Zeir Anpin, transforming it. The result is the perfect (face-to-face) union between Zeir Anpin and Malchut.
In short, leaving comfort means ceasing to receive; that situation is contrary to human nature. Giving without receiving anything in return is uncomfortable, but it is necessary to cultivate that spiritual quality, chesed, if we want to carry out creative actions.
Leave the comfort zone
Copulación perfecta entre el zeir anpin y la maljut.
KLIPOTS
It is very important that we understand that Lot is not a negativity, it is not a klipa. It is the part of our desire to receive that we cannot correct at our current spiritual level.
Separation from the desire to receive
In Egypt, Abraham learns to perfection how to attain da'at. He learns that he must temporarily separate himself from a part of his desire to receive (Lot) that cannot transform him while he remains at his current spiritual level.
Salvation from the desire to receive
Abraham journeys from Egypt to Canaan, the pre-promised land. On his way, he encounters a war between several kings. These kings are the Malkhuts of the Klipots, whom Abraham must conquer on his journey to Canaan. Even though he is separated from Lot (reflecting his desire to receive), Abraham must save him and prevent him from remaining captive to the Klipots.
Klipa on the right
Abraham and Sarah cannot (yet) have children. Their union is not yet perfectly spiritual; their chesed (kindness) must be fully developed. Hagar represents Sarah's fleeting desires. The union between Hagar and Abraham results in Ishmael, who embodies "giving with the intention of receiving."
The pact
We learn that during the same process of spiritual transformation we created the clipots and now we must eliminate them. Circumcision is that elimination of the clipots, which is the covenant between man (the vessel, Malchut) and the light. Circumcision is necessary to complete the current level and thus be able to ascend to the next spiritual level (which will be Itzak).