B”H

PROPER USE AND MISUSE OF GEMATRIOT

When we examined the name לבן in my book נקבה: הקרבנות והכפרות we spoke about the fact that because we are not in a state of consciousness in which we perform the חלופים of the גימטריות naturally, as a matter of course, when reading Hebrew (and that is, indeed, the most abysmal גלות) we do not understand many concepts in תורה properly. As a result, we are reduced to hallucinating evil and plurality wherein none exist in reality. and because we are not aware of the fact that it is we ourselves creating these phantasmagoria and certainly not knowing the creation is done, we live in dread fear of the creations of our renegade minds, with the accompanying imprecation and execration of these phantoms and phantasmagoria. Thus, we bring the transgression of the מצוה אל תעשה not to curse upon ourselves. Horrible hells are created by the mind undisciplined, untrained in the חלופים of the גמטריא. That is our punishment for having abrogated the Kingdom of Heaven – understand this. Remember: we always use the גמטריות to elevate what our minds understand to be the ‘meanings’ of the words. The widespread misuse, or more correct to say abuse, of the גמטריות to lend false validity to our delusions of evil or prove that our private prejudices are true is rife throughout the “Kabbalah”. One most salient examples of this is the “Kabbalistic” teaching that אשמדי should be understood to be kind of the demons because the גמטריא of his name is 355, which is equal to the גמטריא of the name פרעה. See: http://www.hollyfeld.org/heaven/Text/QBL/rpgqbl.html Though the ‘Kabbalah’ admits that our אשמדי is not all bad, he is yet understood to be a mischievous demon. This author must ask why the “Kabbalist” who discovered the fact that the name אשמדי and the name פרעה share a common גמטריא of 355 came to this odd conclusion. Why stop with only one equality? Is the גמטריא 355 not also equal to: מחשבה, בשמחה, השכל, כל כפרה? Could the same ‘Kabbalist’ who was able to see that אשמדי and פרעה have one and the same גמטריא not understand, and transmit, that they are one and the same together with the equalities offered above. Could he not see that the very name אשמדי contains the Name שדי within it, and that the remainder of א+מ is equal to the word אלי? The name אשמדי and all of the names and words it is equal to, that is to say different aspect of but identical with, are identical with and aspects of the term אלי שדי. So, dear reader, whether we see a name like אשמדי as that of a demon or as a celebration of the fact that אלי בקרבי is a matter of our own choice. Know this and commit it to heart and mind. In our times access to the teachings of the true Kabbalah, as well as the pseudo-Kabbalah has been made possible. Thus, learning attempting to acquire this ‘esoteric knowledge’ has become widespread. Know that Wisdom is not acquired, it is given. It cannot be had as a commodity. Many of those who attempt to learn the material are not sufficiently prepared emotionally, mentally and/or educationally to approach it. Often the would-be student of the “Kabbalah” attempts to learn it in translation, not having a solid background in the intricacies of the holy Hebrew language. This is an utter impossibility. The pseudo-Kabbalah, which is rooted in the Pharisaic tradition, is typified by distorted and partial understandings of תורה which reflect the negatively-oriented minds and unhappy hearts from which they sprang. Unaware of, and unable to attain profound joy and deep understanding of the Tzadokim, the Pharisees, and their students the Rabbis after them, developed a “Kabbalah” which all too poignantly bespeaks their tortured and frustrated attempts to enter the Holy of Holies, even as they did during the time of the Second Temple. They were not privy to this level of holiness and will not be, so long as they stubbornly deny the rightful place of the Tzadokim and women in Judaism. The Rabbis thought that with the destruction of the Second Temple “consensus” had been achieved – that is to say that their interpretation of תורה was the only one which would be known and that the בני צדוק and their followers’ memory could be blotted out by subsuming them under the pejorative term "מינים" together with the renegades and apostates. In addition to rooting out the “apochryphal texts, they “archived” the last solid evidence of the fact that the Dead Sea Sect did indeed possess, and follow, Tush’ba (a copy of the Damascus Document was found in the geniza in Cairo). Such was not to be the case forever though, and ה' יתברך שמו kept the ‘Dead Sea Scrolls’ hidden until the time for שיבת ציון. The degradation of the Kabbalah historically and in our own times is not merely deplorable, it constitutes the profaning of the Holy par excellence, it is no less sinful than one who has to right to serve as High Priest to arrogate the office to himself or for a priest to arrogate kingship to himself. In order to build and serve ה' יתברך in the Third Temple we must reconstruct its foundation, i.e., the Torah tradition of the righteous Tzaddokim and their followers.

May the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart be for a blessing.

Doreen Ellen Bell-Dotan, Tzfat