Yichud=Eros

Yom Kippur is the day of Yichud. Complete Unification. Let the blog below manifest Yichud.
May we all be sealed in the book of life.

In Luriannic myth, these are the 288 sparks of light that remained in the shattered vessels of the Kings after they died and are waiting for redemption (see above, note 52). The sparks are numbered 288, based on a reading of the biblical verse in Genesis 1:2: “And the spirit of God hovered (merahefet) over the water.” The Hebrew word merahefet is broken down into rafah met — i.e. the “dead 288”. Another reason for the number 288 (pointed out by Dr. Menahem Kallus, and found later in Pri Etz Hayim, Kriyat Shma she’al Hamita, chapter 8) that it is equal to the combined numerical value of hesed and gevurah, as the 288 sparks include those that have fallen into the qlippot reflect both aspects of reality.

These sparks are redeemed by means of the “arousal of the feminine waters” (this is the water from the biblical verse) that “cause anew a Higher Coupling, and through the light that is created as a result of that zivvug, these Kings will be fixed” (Sha’ar Hahaqdamot, drush Ka’asher Ala, Etz Hayim, Sha’ar Hatiqqun, chapter one). This process, according to R. Isaac Luria, is the secret meaning of the “revival of the dead” (Etz Hayim Sha’ar Rafah, chapter one). Although this process is ‘built-in” as part of the Luriannic Tiqqun stage of development, as a result of the Sin of Adam, which caused creation to fall to a level lower than what was originally intended, it has become the work of the tzadiq to raise these sparks up. The degree of his success is dependant on the magnitude of the mitzvah he performs, or the intensity of the prayer he prays (Etz Hayim, Sha’ar M”N uM’D, eleventh discourse, seventh principle).

The Baal Shem Tov and the Hasidic movement in general placed greater emphasis on the fact that one raises up the sparks in all forms of encounter with the material world {See next blog post on this} and Baal Shem Tov al Hatorah, Ki Tisa 29, where the Baal Shem Tov is quoted explicitly on the subject of the 288 sparks. In addition, whereas in Luriannic kabbalah, the practice of raising the sparks is primarily intended for an elite that is capable of assimilating and integrating the complex Luriannic roadmap, in Hasidism, it became a task and privilege incumbent on all.

In fact, in the only certain authentic letter we have of the Baal Shem Tov himself, this is possibly the nexus of what he is told by the Messiah. In the course of his most intense soul-journey into the higher realms, the Baal Shem Tov rises to the Hall of the Messiah, where he asks Messaih when he will come to earth. The Messiah’a answer to him is: “This will be your sign: When you teachings will be publicized, and revealed in the world, and your springs will spread abroad, whatever I have taught you and you have realized, and they, too [i.e. the masses] will be able to perform yihudim and soul-ascents like you do, then all the qlippot will be abolished, and a time of goodwill and deliverance will be inaugurated.” (the Baal Shem Tov’s letter to R. Gershon Kitover, printed at the enc of Baal Shem Tov alHatorah, vol. 2)

this blog is from the footnote to mystery of love a project undertaken by marc gafni and AL.
posted on marcgafni.com
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