The word "say" opens the portion three times, and hides the tool that purifies.
Weekly study · Monday to Friday
✦ Every insight comes from Michael Berg's Shabbat class on the portion Emor, on the only way to pierce the veil of illusion.
The Light of the Creator shines without pause, and where it shines there is no pain, no lack, no death. This is the plane of Etz HaChayim, the Tree of Life. But we live in the illusion of Etz HaDa'at Tov VeRa, the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. This is the only problem, and the purpose of spiritual work is to pierce that veil.
Psalms 12:7 says: Imrot Hashem amarot tehorot, the words of the Creator are purifying words. Michael Berg asks each of us to arrive at Shabbat with this awareness: we do not come for wisdom, we come so that these words remove our shells, the klipot.
Two people can hear the same reading. The one who holds on to it with urgent need, machazikim ba, receives far more Light. The same goes for the Zohar: not as one more spiritual tool, but as the one that purifies the experience of life.
The first verse repeats emor three times. The Creator speaks to us today, not only to Moshe.
There is the reality of the Light and the layer of illusion. All lack and pain come from the shell.
Keep this verse: the Creator's words purify those who connect to them with that awareness.
The world was born from ten sayings of the Creator. Babies show that purity. The shells came later, with selfishness.
Two tools remove the shells: the Torah reading on Shabbat and the Zohar every day.
The portion Emor begins with a strange sentence: Vayomer Hashem el Moshe, emor, the word "say" repeated three times. For Michael Berg, this is the secret of the week. The Creator is speaking to each of us, and what He says is that there are two realities: the Tree of Life, where there is only Light and blessing, and the illusion of the Tree of Knowledge, where we experience lack, pain and fear.
Spiritual work exists to pierce that illusion. And the tools the Creator gave us for it are His own words: Imrot Hashem amarot tehorot. The world was created by ten sayings, and everything is born pure. When we hear the Torah and read the Zohar with the awareness of being purified, we ask those words to remove the shells and return the soul's original connection to the Light.
This explains the end of the verse. Impurity, tumah, is not something that makes us bad: it is just the shells we have placed over ourselves. Purity, taharah, is when they come off. And the Light is revealed to the degree that we hold on desperately to these words. So the question of the week is: how desperately do I connect to the Zohar every day?
See where the shell speaks loudest.
Note one situation of lack, fear or pain. Say: "This is the shell, not the reality of the Light."
Memorize the verse that guides the week.
Repeat Imrot Hashem amarot tehorot and its meaning. Carry it with you before any reading today.
Change the awareness of the reading.
When you open the Zohar, do not read to understand. Ask that the words remove your shells.
Bring urgency to the connection.
Make your connection as someone who truly needs it. Stay until you feel you have held on.
Choose the Tree of Life.
Write what changed by reading with this awareness. Thank the Light and decide how you will receive Shabbat.
The words of the Creator purify me.
I remove the shells and choose the Tree of Life.
May this week of Emor help you read with the desire to be purified and live closer to the Tree of Life. Shavua Tov!
If someone you love lives surrounded by lack and fear, this portion speaks of a way out within everyone's reach.
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