Saturday, February 21, 2009

Understanding Shatnez Versus Completeness

Terumah

Thus, the complete blessing of all I experience and collect through you ... Shemot 25:9
כְּ כֹל, אֲשֶׁר אֲנִי מַרְאֶה אוֹתְ ךָ, אֵת תַּבְנִית הַמִּשְׁכָּן

May a vow never become a prison for your soul. Wherever your path may lead, may you be free to go.

Shatnez: A Prison for your Soul

That which is unmixable (a weave of error) comes from the shoresh (root) כלא. From this shoresh is derived the hebrew word for prison (כלוא), as in the phrase "house of bondage" (בית הכלוא). The word for unmixable species (כלאים), and the word for stopping or restraining (כלאם) like in the phrase "shut them in", are also derived from this shoresh.

Uniquely Complexly Complete: The Blessing of All

That which is uniquely and complexly complete comes from the shoresh כלל. From this shoresh are derived words pertaining to the idea of completeness by including everything. For example, derived from this shoresh are sustaining completely (וכלכלתי), Temple offering משפטיך ותורתך completely consumed (וכלכל), and the blessing of all (את-כל-אשר).

To experience the blessing of all, one must be faithful to and evolve one's Unique Divine Spark. To assimilate the blessing of all into one's explicit reality, one must truly grasp and comprehend the difference between shatnez (that which is unmixable) and unique complex completeness (that which is perfectly mixable). The former builds a prison for your soul. The latter delivers true blessing.

The difference between the two shorashim - כלא and כלל - is the final letter. The shoresh of prison ends in the letter alef (א a letter of singularity with a value of 1), while the shoresh of the blessing of all ends in the letter lamed (ל a letter of multiplicity with a value of 30).

Alef represents the ultimate manifestation of one's inner messianic Unique Divine Spark. Thus, one's own inner Spark of Mashiach restrains and stops those who would build a prison for souls.

Lamed represents learning and teaching. Thus, one's ability to learn and to communicate effectively that which was learned to another is a mechanism through which the blessing of all is received, transmitted and bestowed.

Related entry - The Divine Spark On Oaths & Obligations