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The Seven Crises of the World of Chaos
We have spoken about the seven general crises in life,[1] which correspond to the seven kings of the World of Chaos, who are represented in the Bible by the seven Kings of Edom who reigned and died.[2] Their deaths represent the shattering of the seven emotive sefirot of the World of Chaos. Let’s recap these crises and their correspondence with each of the emotive sefirot and the seven kings:
Nervous breakdown is the shattering of knowledge (da’at), corresponding to the king Bela ben Be’or.
Sense of alienation, a lack of love, is the crisis of loving-kindness (chessed), corresponding to the king Yovav Ben Zerach from Batzrah.
Trauma of harm leading to paranoia is the crisis of might (gevurah) and corresponding to the king Chusham from the land of the Teimani.
Social isolation, the feeling of “I have no place in the world,” is the crisis of beauty (tiferet), corresponding to the king Hadad Ben Bedad.
Crisis due to failure, the feeling of being unsuccessful and a schlimazel (a loser), corresponds to victory and acknowledgment (netzach and hod), which in the World of Chaos are one sefirah and corresponds to the king Samla from Masrekah.
A family crisis, be it peace in the home or other family issues corresponds to foundation (yesod) and to the king Saul from Rehoboth-on-the-river.
A crisis caused by existential emptiness and meaninglessness corresponds to kingdom (malchut) and to the king Ba’al Chanan ben Achbor.
The Transition
Following the seven kings—who represent a crisis that is followed by a psychological breakdown—comes the eighth king, Hadar, who is married to Meheitavel about whom the Torah does not write that he died. Thus, Hadar represents the transition from the World of Chaos to the World of Rectification (tikkun), following the general formula that “In the beginning darkness and afterwards, light.”[3] The same principle applies when considering the idiom “Hod and Hadar”[4] (הוֹד וְהָדָר). The word hod is related to self-inflicted trauma, as in “My glory [hod] has turned into a weapon of destruction against me”[5]; this refers to the Shattering of the Vessels, death, and burial, which are all associated with the attribute or sefirah of hod (which we usually translate as acknowledgment). Subsequently, the restoration occurs with hadar, referring to King Hadar, and in the dictum that “In the beginning darkness and afterwards light,” with the words “and afterwards light” (וַהֲדַר נְהוֹרָא).
The beginning of the rectification is the belief that it is possible to return to the state before the breaking ("Hadar" also means return), but the goal is new growth and progress that are better than what was before the crisis. The essence of the previous state, which shattered exists only in the memory of the past, which is not meant to return. Thus, the breakdown is a transitional stage, a link connecting the past to the future that is to come.
The Key that Includes Six
The first crisis, the breaking of the sefirah of knowledge (da’at), is the general principle that includes all the other crises and their source, so much so that one of the meanings of the term knowledge in Hebrew is breaking.[6] We must therefore reinterpret the language of the Zohar that da’at is "the key that includes six"[7] (מַפְתְּחָא דְּכָלִיל שִׁית). The usual interpretation is that da’at encompasses all six emotions of the heart, the six aspects of the Small Countenance (Ze’er Anpin), the partzuf that includes the attributes of the heart. However, for our purpose, we must interpret that the first king Bela ben Be’or, who corresponds with da’at, includes all the six kings that follow him and who too represent a crisis that leads to a shattering. In other words, the entire secret of the shattering, i.e., the existential type of crisis is found in the sefirah of knowledge (da’at). The power to experience rectification and growth following such a crisis emanates from the sefirah of crown—the root of da’at—and following the verse, “His name is Tzemach, and from underneath himself, he [i.e., the Mashiach] will grow.”[8]
One of the explications for the correspondence between Bela ben Be’or and the sefirah of knowledge notes the similarity between his name and that of Balaam ben Be’or, the non-Jewish prophet who was hired to curse the Jewish people as they were approaching the land of Mo’ab. Balaam describes himself as “one who has knowledge of the Most High”[9] (וְיֹדֵעַ דַּעַת עֶלְיוֹן).[10] Balaam is considered the nemesis of Moses, who is the da’at of all of Israel. This is learned from the verse, "A prophet like Moses did not arise again in Israel," which the sages analyze as meaning that in Israel there was no prophet like Moses, but among the nations of the world, there was, and he was Balaam. Adding another dimension to this correspondence is that Balaam’s prophecy contains the most explicit prophecy in the Torah about the Mashiach,[11] whom we have said represents the increased post-traumatic growth that stems from the crown.
The Crisis of Da’at and its Rectification
Another way to understand the sefirah of da’at is that it is self-consciousness. The crisis that leads to shattering begins as an excessive sense of self-awareness, a sense of ego, which in the case of the Seven Kings of Edom is described as “I will control” (אנא אמלוך). This excessive egocentricity eventually leads to an existential crisis in the psyche.
In the crisis of da’at, which we identify as a nervous breakdown, the conflict that is at the center is experienced as “I against myself,” and under the surface it is a conflict between one’s intellect and one’s emotions. For this conflict to lead to a breakdown, both the intellect and the emotions must be unstable. The unstable intellect is exactly this unstable sefirah of da’at and the unstable emotions are those that lack nullification and lowliness, making both the intellect and the emotions examples of the World of Tohu, the World of Chaos. The rectification extends from recognizing the true source of one’s ego, an injunction known as “know where you came from”[12] (דַּע מֵאַיִן בָּאתָ).
From this crisis, the following crises stem—be they caused by some foe who opposes me, or because I oppose and find myself opposing someone else (the crises found in loving-kindness through acknowledgment), or that both I and someone else are up against each other (in the crisis of foundation), that I feel that God is against me (in the crisis of kingdom). Rectification and growth occur when one is able to transform the feeling that was opposing me is actually helping me. This is also the secret of the Torah’s description of Eve as literally “a helper opposite him”[13] (עֵזֶר כְּנֶגְדּוֹ). King Hadar, who did wed, came to realize that what might seem to be opposition from his spouse, is actually the most important help he has ever received, all meant by God to direct his future growth and success.[14]
The House of Jacob—the World of Rectification
Until now, the contemplation has been on the kings of the World of Chaos, the shattering that preceded rectification, and on King Hadar, who represents the beginning of the transition from chaos to rectification. However, the true proprietor of the World of Rectification is Jacob.[15] Therefore, we must contemplate how the crises appear in his life and how from them the House of Israel grew into a family, and later—out of the trauma of the descent to Egypt and the exile there—into the Nation of Israel. What this means is that now we are reinterpreting the "the key that includes six" as it applies to Jacob’s nuclear family, specifically that Jacob is now the first king, paralleling Bela ben Be’or and the sefirah of knowledge (da’at) and the six kings that follow him are the six sons he has through Leah.
Normally, it is explained that Reuben, Shimon, and Levi correspond to loving-kindness, might, and beauty (chessed, gevurah, and tiferet), respectively; the pair Yissachar and Zevulun correspond to victory and acknowledgment (netzach and hod), and Judah corresponds to kingdom. In this correspondence, the foundation remains for Joseph, Rachel’s son and the foundation of Nukva (the feminine counterpart of Ze’er Anpin) is for Benjamin, the son of Rachel.
But now, we are corresponding Jacob with knowledge (da’at), and so the six sons of Leah correspond to the six kings of Chaos and their crises (from which, in the sons of Yaakov, the post-traumatic growth breaks out). And so, we have:
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knowledge-da’at דָּעַת Nervous Breakdown Jacob |
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| loving–kindness–chessed חֶסֶד
Crisis of Love Reuven |
might–gevurah גְּבוּרָה Crisis of Paranoia Shimon |
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beauty–tiferet תִּפְאֶרֶת Crisis of Alienation Levi
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victory–netzach נֶצַח and splendor–hod הוֹד Crisis of Failure Zebulun
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foundation–yesod יְסוֹד Family Crisis Yissachar
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kingdom-malchut מַלְכוּת Crisis of Meaninglessness Judah |
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Reuben, Shimon, and Levi remain in their place but Zebulun the merchant corresponds to victory and acknowledgment together, as they are in the World of Chaos as one sefirah, Yissachar the wise corresponds to foundation, following the verse, “Rejoice Zebulun in your going out [travel on one’s feet, which correspond with victory and acknowledgment, and go out and wander out of the torso] and Yissachar in your tents [the tent is the secret of foundation].”[16] Judah the king also remains in his place and corresponds to kingdom. (To complete the correspondence, we note that when Jacob is da’at, Abraham and Isaac correspond to wisdom and understanding. Abraham’s name (אַבְרָהָם) permutes to spell “the organ of naught” (אֵבָר מַה) alluding to wisdom (חָכְמָה), whose letters permute to “the power of naught” (כֹּחַ מַה). Isaac’s name literally means laughter and joy and thus corresponds to understanding, whose inner experience is joy. Finally, the crown corresponds to the Mashiach, who is described as “the God of Jacob.”[17]
The Crises of the Sons of Leah
The six ‘individual’ crises of the six kings of the World of Chaos can be identified in the lives of Leah’s six sons.
The crisis of love is expressed in Reuben, who suffers from a sense of alienation from his family, including his father, who calls him “a foolish firstborn.”[18] This crisis is also the transformation of the gift of wisdom, life-wisdom, associated with the sefirah of loving-kindness.[19] In fact, the lack of love is already expressed in his name, in which Leah, his mother, expressed the feeling that she was unloved: “She called his name Reuven, for she said, ‘God has looked upon my affliction; now my husband will love me.’” After Rachel’s passing, Reuben becomes even more jealous of the lack of love shown to his mother.
From this crisis of love, Reuben grows to become a devoted and loving brother expressing and exercising love that is not dependent on anything, towards his brother Joseph, Rachel’s son. The sages express this in their commentary on why Leah chose to call him Reuben.
She said, “See (רְאוּ) the difference between (בֵּין) my son and my father-in-law’s son [Esau] who himself sold the birthright to Jacob and yet wished to kill him afterwards. My son did not sell his birthright to Joseph, yet he did not raise any protest to him being regarded as the first-born and not only did he not raise a protest but he even wished to save him from the pit and to rescue him from death.”[20]
The crisis of injury appears in Shimon, who injures both Shechem and Yosef, and consequently is also harmed himself. There, too, the feeling of hatred is already expressed in his name, in which Leah, his mother, expressed the feeling that she was hated – “And she said, ‘God has heard that I am hated, and He has given me this one also,’ and she called his name Shimon.”
Out of this, Shimon grows to develop a sensitivity to harm, and after the revenge on Shechem, the one who hurt him, and on the men of his city, he spreads his wings over his sister Dinah, who was raped.[21] (Of course, Leah too feels that it is out of the traumas—the lack of love she feels from Jacob, and even hatred—she grew to merit sons, as she emphasizes in naming them, and her true intent is to aim for the truth that, “God saw that Leah was hated, and He opened her womb”[22]).
Levi, whose name expresses a desire to join and connect—“This time my husband will be joined to me, because I have borne him three sons”—suffers from the social crisis within beauty[23] (tiferet), and does not blend with his brothers, except for Shimon, his older brother, with whom he joins[24] illustrating that those who cannot find their place in society often choose to join specifically with those who harm and are harmed.
Ultimately, he grows from this to be one who is not influenced at all by social pressure: he is not part of the enslavement in Egypt,[25] he circumcises his sons even when all of Israel refrain from circumcising their offspring in the wilderness,[26] he does not participate in the Sin of the Golden Calf, and he remains faithful to God and Moses. When the time comes to inherit the Land of Canaan, he does not receive his own land (a tangible expression of the feeling of “I have no place in the world”), but he earns his portion honorably,[27] by being scattered through the land, involved with all of Israel, and by receiving material goods from others and influencing them spiritually.[28]
Zebulun, corresponding to the crisis of failure found in victory and acknowledgment, feels unlucky and unsuccessful. The sages relate: Zebulun complains about his lot… Zevulun said before the Holy Blessed One, “Master of the World, to my brothers You gave fields and vineyards, and to me You gave mountains and hills. To my brothers You gave lands, and to me You gave seas and rivers.’”
And when God answers him that in his portion there is the purple dye, tripe, and white glass (he does indeed have good fortune), he fears that he will not succeed[29] and that it will be taken from him, “He said before Him, ‘Master of the World, who will guarantee me [my success]?’”
And on this, God answers him that success is assured, and failure will come to the one who does not pay him, “This will be your sign: anyone who takes from you without paying will not succeed in his business.”[30] Indeed, in the end, Zebulun grows to be the most successful merchant, with his net spread across the world, and beyond the material profits, which allow him to sustain his brother Yissachar[31] and also to engage in Torah himself,[32] he is also a successful merchant who gathers sparks of converts from all over the world.
Yissachar, who was born from his father’s coaxing of his mother (apparently not with the conventional modesty), reflects a crisis in the peace between his parents. He inherits the feelings of lack of love and hatred between them.
Indeed, from this, he grows to be a Torah scholar, as it is said, “And from the children of Yissachar, men who understood understanding [the secret of his mother Leah] the times, knowing what Israel [Yaakov-Israel, his father] should do.” He becomes a Torah scholar who knows how to rectify all 28 “times” appearing in the Book of Ecclesiastes and bring balance to the Jewish home through different seasons. Sometimes it is “a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing,” and he dedicates himself to bringing peace between a husband and wife.
In Judah we find the existential emptiness felt when, after the sale of Yosef, he separates from his brothers. He feels that he no longer has anything to do with his life and he leaves to find his fortune with an Adulamite man. While still in his crisis of emptiness, he fathers Er and Onan (whose names are related to destruction and mourning) who sin by blemishing their covenant and died (reflecting his crisis, the feeling of lack of meaning in life).
But God Himself arranges that Judah will perform levirate marriage with his daughter-in-law, Tamar, to provide continuity for Er and Onan and to resurrect them through Peretz and Zerach,[33] his sons from Tamar and from whom true and complete redemption will emerge.[34] His journey is one of a clear post-traumatic growth.
Jacob’s Crises
Indeed, as explained, the overall crisis that encompasses everything is the crisis of da’at—the center of the nervous system, which may suffer from a breakdown at varying levels. On the side of in holiness, we associate this crisis with Jacob, the father of the six sons, whose entire life was filled with worries and crises. In fact, we can find all six crises that appear in his sons in Jacob:
- He experiences a crisis of lack of love, to the point of alienation, because his father loves Esau.
- He suffers harm from Esau, his twin (who harms him and all those around him).
- He cannot connect at all with this world, the world of Esau (while Esau seems to get along well with everyone…), and he isolates himself as one who “dwells in tents.”
- He is naïve and unsuccessful in business (which he has no interest in, but he feels that in the eyes of others, this is a serious problem for him).
- He is not married and remains an old bachelor until the age of 84, with no peace in his home. On top of that his matchmaking process is complex and difficult, and in many ways, so too is his married life. As a result, he finds no meaning until he begins to engage in establishing the House of Israel.
As was explained in the previous article in this series, the crisis of da’at is a conflict whose origin is unclear, and its rectification comes about as a result of: “Know where you came from, where you are going, and before whom you are destined to give an accounting”; by recognizing that the crisis is a point of transformation, a decay from which will emerge growth. The crisis of da’at is a point on the path from the past to the future. The past will turn into a bright future when one fulfills the call of the verse, ”I will lift my eyes to the mountains, from where will my help come,” with confidence that God will bring help from within the crisis.
Indeed, the value of “Jacob” (יַעֲקֹב) is the same as “from where to where” (מֵאַיִן לְאָן), as well as the 7 times 26, God’s essential Name Havayah—before whom all will give an accounting—the Name designating creation of being from non-being (creation ex nihilo), the ultimate power of growth, and a new reality that is fast approaching.
(based on a shiur given on 16 Shevat 5785)
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[1]. Wisdom issue 143.
[2]. Genesis 36:33-39. See Arizal’s Likkutei Torah end of Vayishlach.
[3]. As we see in the Torah’s beginning, first “and the earth was chaotic and void and darkness was upon the face of the abyss” and then “God said, ‘Let there be light,’ and there was light.”
[4]. Psalms 21:6, 96:6, 104:1, 111:3, and 1 Chronicles 16:27.
[5]. Daniel 10:8.
[6][6]. See Shoftim 8:16 and Targum Yonatan and Rashi there.
[7]. The value of “da’at” (דָּעַת) is six times the value of “de’ah” (דֵּעָה) an equivalent form of the word, indicating that da’at contains all of the six other types of crisis.
[8]. Zachariah 6:12.
[9]. Numbers 24:15.
[10]. The source of the curse that Balaam wished to administer upon the Jewish people is the measures of might within da’at. God transformed the curse into a blessing by switching the source to the measures of loving-kindness within da’at (see Deuteronomy 23:6).
[11]. Hilchot Melachim 11:1; see in length in Likkutei Sichot vol. 18, second sichah on Balak.
[12]. Avot 3:1.
[13]. Genesis 2:18. See Rashi on the verse.
[14]. The verse reads, “It is not good for man to be alone, I will make him a helper opposite him” (לֹא טוֹב הֱיוֹת הָאָדָם לְבַדּוֹ אֶעֱשֶׂה לּוֹ עֵזֶר כְּנֶגְדּוֹ). The value of these words is 1333, which is 31 times 33. There are 31 letters in this phrase, which means that the average value of each letter is 33, which is the value of the word “great” (גָּדוֹל), alluding to the well-known statement from the Zohar (3:5a), “A king without a queen is neither a king nor is he great” (מַלְכָּא בְּלֹא מַטְרוֹנִיתָא לָאו אִיהוּ מֶלֶךְ וְלָאו אִיהוּ גָּדוֹל).
[15]. Ma’amarei Admur HaZaken 5565, 84b (see also the notes of Rabbi Nathan Shapira to Otzrot Chaim, 24).
[16]. Deuteronomy 33:18.
[17]. 2 Samuel 23:1.
[18]. Rashi on Genesis 29:32 (following Berachot 7b).
[19]. Sefer Yetzirah 4:3 (see Gra’s commentary there and in the Raavad’s introduction to Sefer Yetzirah).
[20]. Berachot 7b and quoted in Rashi ibid.
[21]. See Bereishit Rabbah 80:11.
[22]. Genesis 29:31. See Yalkut Shimoni 873, that Leah was sterile, but thanks to her trauma, God encouraged her growth and opened her womb. In Hebrew, the word “womb” (רֶחֶם) means “compassion,” and so by opening her womb, God opened her compassion, the true vessel needed to receive from Jacob, who corresponds to the sefirah of beauty (tiferet), whose inner experience is compassion.
[23]. The value of “beauty” (תִּפְאֶרֶת) is the triangular value of Levi (לֵוִי), i.e., the triangle of 46—the sum of integers from 1 to 46.
[24]. Genesis 34:25; Ibid. 49:5 (and Rashi there).
[25]. Shemot Rabbah 5:16.
[26]. See also Ibid. 19:5 and elsewhere.
[27]. Rashi on Genesis 49:7.
[28]. Levi’s ability to cope with his trauma and grow from it is Jacob’s special trait of (Genesis 32:11) “I am lessened” (קָטֹנְתִּי), which he inherits. Indeed, his name illustrates the lessening of his belittling himself. It starts with the largest letter of the alef-beit, the lamed (ל), passes through the medium sized letter vav (ו), and end with the smallest letter, yud (י).
[29]. Zebulun subconsciously fears that his merchandise will be seen as trash (זֶבֶל), another meaning of his name, Zebulun (זְבֻלוּן).
[30]. Megillah 6a.
[31]. Bereishit Rabbah 99:1.
[32]. See Rashi on Genesis Deuteronomy 33:19.
[33]. See Sha’ar HaGilgulim 37. Sha’ar HaPesukim on Vayeishev.
[34]. Bereishit Rabbah 85:1. While Judah was feeling the meaninglessness of existence and involved with marrying the daughter of Shua, the Adulamite man, God was busy creating the “light [the revelation] of Mashiach.”
