וַיֹּאמַ֗ר יי מִסִּינַ֥י בָּא֙ וְזָרַ֤ח מִשֵּׂעִיר֙ לָ֔מוֹ הוֹפִ֙יעַ֙ מֵהַ֣ר פָּארָ֔ן וְאָתָ֖ה מֵרִבְבֹ֣ת קֹ֑דֶשׁ מִֽימִינ֕וֹ אשדת [אֵ֥שׁ] [דָּ֖ת] לָֽמוֹ׃
He said: The LORD came from Sinai; God shone upon them from Seir; God appeared from Mount Paran, And approached from Ribeboth-kodesh, Lightning flashing at them from His right.
אש דת. שֶׁהָיְתָה כְתוּבָה מֵאָז לְפָנָיו בְּאֵשׁ שְׁחֹרָה עַל גַּב אֵשׁ לְבָנָה:
אשדת (“fire, Law”, or “fire of Law”) — i.e. the Law which had been written before him in black fire upon white fire.
ר"פ בשם רשב"ל התורה שנתן לו הקב"ה למשה נתנה לו אש לבנה חרותה באש שחורה היא אש מובללת באש חצובה מאש ונתונה מאש דכתיב (דברים ל״ג:ב׳) מימינו אש דת למו:
Rebbi Pinchas taught in the name of Rabbi Shimon ben Lakish, The Torah which the Holy Blessed One gave to Moshe was white fire inscribed with black fire; fire mixed with fire, cleaved from fire and given from/by fire, as it is written: "From Their right a fiery law to them"
אָמַר רַבִּי חֲנִינָא בַּר פָּפָּא, דָּרֵשׁ רַבִּי שֵׁילָא אִישׁ כְּפַר תְּמַרְתָּא: כׇּל הַשִּׁירוֹת כּוּלָּן נִכְתָּבוֹת אָרִיחַ עַל גַּבֵּי לְבֵינָה וּלְבֵינָה עַל גַּבֵּי אָרִיחַ
Rabbi Ḥanina bar Pappa said that Rabbi Sheila, a man of the village of Timarta, interpreted a verse homiletically: All of the songs in the Bible are written in the form of a half brick arranged upon a whole brick and a whole brick arranged upon a half brick.
במסכת מגילה דף ט"ז ע"ב כל השירות נכתבות אריח על גבי לבינה ולבינה על גבי אריח הנה לכאורה יש להפליא מ"ש תורה חדשה מאתי תצא, הלא הוא אחד מי"ג עיקרים שזאת התורה לא תהא מחולפת ולא תהא תורה אחרת. אמנם הענין הוא כך, כי הנה ידוע שאותיות התורה הם בחינת אורות פנימית אשר בא בהתגלות בסדר השתלשלות העולמות וגבול הלבן המקיף להאותיות הם בחינת אורות מקיפים אשר אינם באים בהתגלות רק בהעלם בבחינת אורות מקיפים.
ומזה מובן שגם הגבולים הלבינים הם גם כן בחינת אותיות, אך הם אותיות נעלמים למעלה מאותיות נגלים. ומזה הטעם נגיעה אסור בספר תורה, כי על ידי הנגיעה הוא מבטל ומסתיר בחינת לבנונית שהוא אותיות הנעלמים, אך בקריעת ים סוף שהיה נס גדול למעלה מהטבע, כי נתגלה אור וחיות ה' שהוא מעלה מעלה הסדר השתלשלות, דהיינו בחינת סובב בחינת אורות מקיפים. ולכן שירה נכתבות אריח על גבי לבינה ולבינה על גבי אריח, כי היה בחינת התכללות משניהם יחד, דהיינו שנמשך בחינת לבנונית שהוא אותיות הנעלמים בהתגלי' בבחינת אותיות הנגלים. וזהו שאמרו חכמינו ז"ל ראתה שפחה על הים וכו', מטעם שהיה כ"כ התגלות אלקות עד שגם שפחה היה בכחה להשיג כו'. וזהו פירוש הפסוק תורה חדשה מאתי תצא, כי לעתיד שיהיה התגלות אלקים ונגלה כבוד ה' וראו כל בשר וכו', דהיינו שיהיה התגלות מבחינת סובב ויתגלה בחינת הלבנונית, היינו אותיות הנעלמים המקיפים באותיות התורה הנגלים. וזהו תורה חדשה מאתי דייקא והבן:
In the tractate Megillah (16b): "All biblical poetry is written blank over print and print over blank."
At first, it is amazing what is written: "A [new] Torah will go out from me" (Isaiah 51:4): Isn't it one of the thirteen principles that this Torah will never be exchanged nor will there be another Torah?
The matter is like this: We know that the letters of the Torah are like inner lights which come into visibility through a sequence of descent through the worlds. The white borders which surround the letters are like circumscribing light which isn't visible but rather hidden, like a circumscribing light.
From this it is understandable that even the white borders are also like letters, but they are hidden letters, higher (deeper) than the revealed letters.
And this is the reason why it is forbidden for the letters of a Torah scroll to touch each other, because by touching one obliterates and hides the quality of the white matter which is the hidden letters.
But at the splitting of the sea [of Reeds], which was a great miracle beyond nature, since the Divine light and life- force which is way beyond the sequence of the descents, namely from the quality of surrounding which is the circumscribing light.
Therefore, poetry (and in particular the Song at the Sea) is written blank over print and print over blank because this revelation was the combination of both them together, namely that the white matter which is the hidden letters was drawn into visibility like the revealed letters.
(Translation: Reb Zalman Schachter-Shalomi)
Hearken to Me, My people,
And give ear to Me, O My nation,
For Torah shall go forth from Me,
My way for the light of peoples.
In a moment I will bring it:
אָמַר רַבִּי אָבִין בַּר כַּהֲנָא אָמַר הַקָּדוֹשׁ בָּרוּךְ הוּא (ישעיה נא, ד): תּוֹרָה חֲדָשָׁה מֵאִתִּי תֵצֵא, חִדּוּשׁ תּוֹרָה מֵאִתִּי תֵצֵא.
Rabbi Avin bar Kahana said: The Holy Blessed One said that "a new Torah will emanate from me;" namely, a renewed Torah will emanate from me.
(Translation: Reb Zalman Schachter-Shalomi)
דאמר רב יהודה אמר רב כל אות שאין גויל מוקף לה מארבע רוחותיה פסולה
Rav Yehuda says that Rav says: Any letter that is not encircled with blank parchment on all four of its sides, i.e., where its ink connects to the letter above it, below it, preceding it, or succeeding it, is unfit.
נאמן ביתו מכתב חרות על הלוחות באש שחורה על גבי אש לבנה... על פי פירושה כל שתלמיד ותיק עתיד לחדש. נמצא שעיקר תורה שבעל פה ניתנה לנו כפי מה שהצדיקים שבדור יפרשו את התורה כן יקום. וזה כח הגדול שמסר לנו הבורא ברוך הוא מחמת אהבתו ובחירתו לעמו ישראל וכפי רצונם מהתורה כך מתנהגים כל העולמות. וזהו מה שאמרו חכמינו ז"ל (מועד קטן טז:) הקדוש ברוך הוא גוזר גזירה והצדיק מבטלה. וזהו מי שעובד להבורא ברוך הוא וברוך שמו בגין דאיהו רב ושליט.
[The Torah] is referred to by our sages as a “letter engraved on the Tablets in black fire on white fire.” ... Any mature scholar who is able to “reveal” a new aspect of the Torah, one that had been forgotten by one and all for some reason, is entitled to feel that they have had a direct part in revealing the Torah to our people. This is a tremendous power that G!d has granted to us, i.e. that the righteous people who will in different generations reveal these “new” aspects of the Torah will become an integral part of the Torah. The fact that G!d gave us this power is evidence of how much They love Their people, according to the degree of love they have shown for Their Torah. This is also the meaning of the Talmud in Moed Katan 16 where G!d is described as issuing various decrees, but the tzaddik in his generation “annulling” such decrees.
Every letter in a Torah scroll must be completely surrounded by parchment... In other words, the white parchment around the letters is an integral part of the Torah; without it, the Torah scroll is disqualified. In fact, the white space is a higher form of Torah. It is analogous to the white fire of Sinai — a sublime, hidden Torah that cannot be read in the usual manner...
The distinction between white and black fire also sheds light on God's call to Moses before speaking with him. The Voice summoning Moses to enter the tent was in fact the divine call from Sinai, an infinite call that never ceased (Deut. 5:19).…This Voice was not a revelation of Torah, but an overture to its revelation. It belonged to the esoteric white fire of Torah, before its constriction and revelation into the physical world.
This is the reason that Moses made the aleph of the divine call smaller. Since it belonged to the realm of white fire, the summons required an extra measure of white space over black ink. Superficially, Moses' miniature aleph humbly implies a diminished state of the revealed Torah of black fire, but on a deeper level, it reflects an increase in the esoteric Torah of white fire.
In Torah, every letter must be free-standing and black. These letters are seen as “black fire” in a white field. The white field, Reb Levi Yitzhak tells us, is also made of “letters,” but these letters are not visible to us because it is very difficult for a person to see both the figure and the ground at the same time. As in certain graphic puzzles used in psychology, you might see two black-silhouetted faces on either side of the picture or a white cup in the center, but to see both is very difficult for our perceptual-cognitive apparatus. This has to do with apperception as distinguished from perception.
Perception has to do with focus; for if we focus on the figure of the two faces, then the white cup is merely the ground, and vice versa. Only recently have we gotten into the idea of the figure-ground reversal, but that is still perception, a choice of focus. Ground over figure, feminine understanding over masculine will yield much new understanding, but it will still be a choice of focus. The goal in the end must tend toward apperception; the awareness of the choice of focus and the possibility of seeing both at the same time!
... The description of the “brick-work,” the white light surrounding the black letters, can be compared in sexual terms to “the woman surrounding the man,” nekeivah tesovev gever, (Jer. 31:22)48 which makes it abundantly clear that these white spaces are a feminine container.
Even more than the [black] ink letters, each “white letter” is a product of a relationship: it is formed in the negative space created between the multiple blank ink marks. Each verse of the Torah has its message. Some of these messages are timeless, some… are an expression of the time in which they are written. But the white letters remain undefined. Their meaning can be renewed each time we read them. They can be responsive to the evolving quality of human relationship. They can be reflective of the deeper Truths that are merging from each generation of additional human relationships… Let us balance the Truthful timeless messages of the black ink with the reminder to check in with the Truths that emerge from relationships in this moment.
במקום שיר אהבה - יהודה עמיחי
כמו שמ"לא תבשל גדי בחלב אמו",
עשו את כל החקים הרבים של כשרות,
אבל הגדי שכוח והחלב שכוח והאם שכוחה,
כך מ"אני אוהב אותך"
עשינו את כל חיינו יחדו.
אבל אני לא שכחתי אותך
כפי שהיית אז.
Yehuda Amichai, "Instead of Love"
From “thou shalt not seethe a kid in its mother’s milk”
they made the many laws of Kashrut
but the kid is forgotten and the milk is forgotten and
the mother is forgotten.
In this way from “I love you”
we made all our life together.
But I’ve not forgotten you
as you were then.
דגל מחנה אפרים, בראשית
(או יאמר, זה ספר תולדות אדם.) וכן בכל דור ודורשיו הם משלימין התורה, כי התורה נדרשת בכל דור ודור לפי מה שצריך לאותו דור. ולפי שורש כשמתן של אותו הדור, כך השי"ת מאיר עיני חכמי הדור ההוא בתורתו הקדושה. והכופר בזה, ג״כ כאילו כופר בתורת ח"ו. וכן ראיתי בספר הקדוש ששם המפורש היה משתמשין בו בכל דור, כ"א לפי דורו, ולפי שורש נשמתו, וכן כל התורה כולה שהוא שמותיו של הקב׳׳ה.
Degel Machaneh Ephraim
In every generation, the scholars (of that generation) are making up [alternative translation: are finishing, or filling up] the Torah, because the Torah is being interpreted in every generations according to the needs of that generation And according to the source of their souls -- so is God enlightening the eyes of the wise people of that generation, in Its holy Torah.
(Translation by Abby Stein)
וְהַתּוֹרָה בַּמֶּה הָיְתָה כְתוּבָה? עַל גַּבֵּי אֵשׁ לְבָנָה בְּאֵשׁ שְׁחוֹרָה, שֶׁנֶּאֱמַר: קְוֻצּוֹתָיו תַּלְתַּלִּים שְׁחוֹרוֹת כָּעוֹרֵב (שה״ש ה, יא). מַהוּ קְוֻצּוֹתָיו תַּלְתַּלִּים? עַל כָּל קוֹץ וָקוֹץ. תִּלֵּי תִלִּים שֶׁל הֲלָכוֹת. כֵּיצַד? כָּתוּב בָּהּ, וְלֹא תְחַלְּלוּ אֶת שֵׁם קָדְשִׁי (ויקרא כב, לב), אִם אַתָּה עוֹשֶׂה חֵי״ת הֵ״א, אַתָּה מַחֲרִיב אֶת הָעוֹלָם. כֹּל הַנְּשָׁמָה תְּהַלֵּל יָהּ (תהלים קנ, ו), אִם אַתָּה עוֹשֶׂה הֵ״א חֵי״ת, אַתָּה מַחֲרִיב אֶת הָעוֹלָם...
וְאִם אוֹת אַחַת כָּךְ, כָּל שֶׁכֵּן הַתֵּבָה כֻלָּהּ, לְכָךְ נֶאֱמַר: קְוֻצּוֹתָיו תַּלְתַּלִּים. לְפִיכָךְ דָּוִד מְקַלֵּס וְאוֹמֵר: רְחָבָה מִצְוָתְךָ מְאֹד (תהלים קיט, צו). וְאוֹמֵר: אֲרֻכָּה מֵאֶרֶץ מִדָּה וְגוֹ' (איוב יא, ט).
How was the Torah written? It was written with letters of black fire on a surface of white fire, as is said: His locks are curled and black as a raven (Song 5:11). What is meant by His locks are curled? It means that each crowned stroke on the letters of the Torah contains heaps and heaps of law. For example, it is written in the Torah: Profane not My Holy Name (Lev. 22:2); but if you should change the het in the word yehallelu (“profane”) into a heh, the word would read “praise,” and you would thereby destroy the world. Conversely, where it is written Let everything that hath breath praise the Lord (Ps. 150:6), if you should alter the heh in the word tehallel (“praise”) into a het, the word would read “profane,” and you would thereby destroy the world...
If a slight change in a single letter can produce such drastic consequences, how much more so the alteration of a complete word. Such, then, is the meaning of His locks are curled. Accordingly David praised God by saying: Thy commandment is exceedingly broad (Ps. 119:96); and elsewhere in Scripture it says: The measure thereof is longer than the earth (Job 11:9).
In the beginning, two thousand years before the heaven and the earth, seven things were created: the Torah written with black fire on white fire, and lying in the lap of God...
תחכמוני אמר רב אמר לו הקב"ה הואיל והשפלת עצמך תהא כמוני שאני גוזר גזרה ואתה מבטלה
“David is described as “a Tahchemonite [taḥkemoni].” Rav said: The Holy One, Blessed be God, said to him: Since you have humbled yourself, be you now like Me [tehe kamoni]. How so? As I issue a decree, and you, owing to your righteousness, may nullify it.
There are 600,000 letters in the Sefer Torah which correspond to the 600,000 souls of the twelve tribes of the Jewish people. Similarly, the MEGALEH AMUKOS (Va'etchanan #186:1) writes that the soul of every Jew stems from one of the 600,000 letters in the Torah. The name "Yisrael" itself can be viewed as an acronym for the words, "Yesh Shishim Ribo Otiyot La'Torah" ("there are sixty myriads (600,000) of letters in the Torah").
White Light Consciousness is described in the Zohar with a panoply of images.The Zohar employs such imagery to evoke the experience of being filled with the divine bounty without condition or limit—an experience of infinite security and love... For example, the Idrot invite the reader to come and see a continuum of grand mythical images, which remain unexplained and which do not stand in any systematic order, and whose sole common denominator is precisely this experience.At first the Zohar draws an image of a skull being filled with crystal dew that trickles unceasingly from a white skull.Afterward, the Zohar describes gazing into a face that has one eye constantly open, from which flows a white light, which in turn bathes the eyes of the one gazing. Then the image of fish in the depths of the sea, whose eyebrow-less eyes are always open.And then yet another image of the unceasing flow of milk from the mother’s breast.