Today's Shabbat reading of Rabbi Aryeh Kaplan's book, "The Aryeh Kaplan Reader: The Rectification of Adam's Sin," discussed the significance of Pesach, Passover. Pesach is about telling the story of the Exodus when G_d passed over the Jews with the Angel of Death. He actually freed them from the power of the Angel of Death, at least until they tragically transgressed with the Golden Calf.
Per Rabbi Aryeh Kaplan, "The Talmud states that with the giving of the Torah all the negative effects of Adam's sin were annulled with respect to the Jewish nation. In particular, the Jews were freed from the power of the Angel of Death.
"It was only later, some forty days following the Sinai experience when the Jews tragically transgressed by worshiping the Golden Calf, that we as a people reverted back to the unrectified state that was introduced to mankind by the initial sin of Adam."
Rabbi Aryeh Kaplan further explains that Rabbi Yitzchak Luria taught that Pesach provides the Jews with a method of rectifying Adam's sin. "Why were the Jews in Egypt in the first place? The answer is that they were there as the result of a question that their forefather, Abraham, had asked of G_d after He had promised to give Abraham and his descendants the Land of Israel as an eternal inheritance (Genesis 15:8)....Abraham had asked of G_d, 'How will I know?'"
Bad idea. This showed G_d that he, Abraham, who had made significant progress in rectifying knowledge, had a lapse of faith. Per Rabbi Yitzchak Luria, "In answer to Abraham's question, G_d appeared to the patriarch in a vision and said, 'Abram, know for a surety that your seed shall be strangers in a land that is not theirs and they shall serve them...' (Genesis 15:13)." So because of Abraham's small lack of faith, the Jews ended up in Egypt, where cursed Ham, son of Noah's, descendants lived, to start rectifying Adam's sin of eating from the Etz Hadaas (the Tree of Knowledge) of good and bad.
Rabbi Aryeh Kaplan then explains a bit more about exactly how Adam sinned. "The Talmud comments that Adam had only been prohibited from eating the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge for just a few hours. Man had been created on the sixth day of Creation which was a Friday, and G_d merely wanted Adam to refrain from eating from the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge, which according to one opinion was a grapevine, until the start of the Sabbath on Friday night...to sanctify the Sabbath. Had he only waited until the proper time, Adam could have eaten from the Tree of Knowledge and then succeeded in truly elevating the quality of knowledge."
So during the Exodus the Jewish people learned to wait, making up for Adam's impatience, and rely on G_d each day for their manna. They learned to wait for their double portion of manna on Shabbat, the Sabbath. They actually were first given the commandment to observe Shabbat during the Exodus, interestingly enough. Everything was perfect as far as the rectification of Adam's sin. The Jews learned to wait, reflect, and nurture the areas where G_d wanted them to grow from their thought patterns of slaves. Per Rabbi Aryeh Kaplan, "After forty-nine days, the Jews had completely recovered from the descent to the forty-ninth level of Egyptian moral impurity. The very next day as pure and healthy individuals, they were capable of receiving the Torah." Unfortunately, after receiving the Torah, the Golden Calf was the game changer that set back the Jewish Nation to this day.
Rabbi Aryeh Kaplan states that Pesach is a way back to rectification of the original sin. "On Passover, the Jew is commanded to drink four cups of wine. What is the significance of the wine? According to the opinion which holds that the Tree of Knowledge was a grapevine, it would be understandable that our drinking of the four cups during the Passover seder is intricately connected to our task in rectifying the blemish brought on mankind by Adam's sin of eating (i.e. drinking) the forbidden fruit (i.e. wine).
"Chassidus teaches that four klipos (impure shells) cover the Jew's Godly soul and prevent it from reaching its full potential. By drinking each of the four cups of wine on the seder night, the individual succeeds in breaking apart all four of the impure shells and in this sense liberates the Godly soul from its own personal bondage to the forces of impurity."
I happen to be learning Hisbonenus and am trying to master Dimension 3, "Transcendence, Soul in the body." It's hard to draw in the G_dly life force into your inner wisdom and vision to see beyond the sensate reality. When it dawned on me what Rabbi Aryeh Kaplan was saying, I went and got a glass of wine, since it was Shabbat. I blessed the wine, drank it, said the after blessing, and then tried to master Dimension 3. It worked! The wine helped me deeply feel the connection of the outer G_dly life force and bring it within myself and better understand G_d's inner workings.
The wine is the key to rectifying knowledge per my experience, but we don't want to misuse the wine like Noah did. Per Rabbi Aryeh Kaplan, "The first act of Noah was the planting of a vineyard. He then produced and drank wine. His desire was to rectify Adam's initial sin which came about through the drinking of wine. However, Noah was careless and instead got drunk [and Ham dishonored his father, Noah]....Just as when Adam first ate (drank wine) the fruit from the Tree of Knowledge, Noah's drinking of wine also set the stage for the increase of immorality among mankind with the strengthening of the Yetzer Hara [evil inclination] into the body of man."
My revelation for this Shabbat is that drinking wine at the correct time, in the correct amounts, for the reason to achieve the knowledge of the G_d's inspiration is the beginning to rectifying Adam's original sin.
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