Showing posts with label Written Torah. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Written Torah. Show all posts

Monday, January 19, 2015

Aderet Eliyahu Commentary on Ezekiel - Anointed with Oral Torah

"Then I washed you with water, and I cleaned your blood from you, and I anointed you with oil." -- Ezekiel 16:9

Commentary ADERET ELIYAHU:

"In this verse, Hashem began to tell them the good deeds that He did for them at Mount Sinai: that He initially gave them the Written Torah and then the Oral Torah.

"The Torah is called 'water' as in Isaiah 55:1, 'For everyone who is thirsty, go to the water'. It is also called 'oil', as in Song of Songs 1:3, 'your oils have a pleasant fragrance'.

"Thus, the Written Torah is called 'water': just as everyone needs water every day and cannot live without it, so must everyone study the Written Torah every day. However, there are many who do not study the Oral Torah and hence, it can be called 'oil' because some people anoint themselves with oil and others do not.

"'I washed you with water', meaning that the Written Torah washes and cleans the soul of a person. 'I cleaned your blood from you' means that at the time of the giving of the Torah, the contamination they received from the serpent had ceased to be among them. 'I anointed you with oil' means that He then gave us the Oral Torah."

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"And if the entire community of Israel sins, the congregation shall bring a young bull as a sin offering. They shall bring it before the Tent of Meeting. The ANOINTED KOHEN shall bring some of the bull's blood into the Tent of Meeting. Then he shall cause it to go up in smoke on the altar. Thus the kohen shall make atonement for the community, and they will be forgiven." -- Leviticus 4:13-20

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You will find that the ones who study Oral Torah and learn the secrets of Metatron will be the ones chosen to serve as the ANOINTED KOHANIM in the rebuilt temple and offer the sacrificial bulls and make atonement for the sins of all human beings. Only those who master the Oral Torah will be able to correctly perform the priestly service, thereby arousing the highest levels of divine mercy. 
 

Friday, May 16, 2014

Sefer haChinukh on the World to Come not Mentioned in the Written Torah

"Should one ask further: After you have said that the primary aspect of all Creation is the world of souls (olam ha-neshamot) and that the ultimate reward for observance of the mitzvot is received there, why does God not mention it in the Written Torah and say explicitly, 'When you perform My mitzvot, I will bequeath you a share in the World to Come'?

"The answer is as follows: It is because the idea of the World to Come is known and obvious to all who possess intelligence; it is as clear as the sun. There is no nation or culture that does not agree that souls endure after the bodies have ceased to be; nor is there anyone who disputes that commensurate with the goodness of a soul, its wisdom, and the righteousness of its deeds, its pleasures in that world is correspondingly greater.

"This is logical, for the origin of the intelligent soul is the Source of Intelligence, i.e. God, and the closer the soul draws to its natural environment, to the place from which it originates, the greater is its pleasure."

-- Sefer haChinukh, Introduction

While the anonymous author of the Chinukh was well versed in the thought of Maimonides, who was thoroughly of Aristotelian persuasion, this passage is very similar to Platonist doctrines on the soul, such as found in Phaedrus, Philebus, etc.

Thursday, May 8, 2014

Tikkunei haZohar on Removing Kabbalah from the Oral Torah

"One who removes Kabbalah from the Oral Torah and the Written Torah, and discourages others from studying it, saying in effect, 'There is nothing but the simple meaning of the Torah and Talmud,' has diverted the flow of the river away from the Garden."

-- Tikkunei haZohar, 82a