The word for children found in this verse, taf, is a unique word. It means "drop." The simple meaning is that the infant is a small "drop," reminiscent of the original drop from which he is created. The infant, who neither learns nor hears is connected to the Torah in a way totally above his parents. It only becomes manifest in the taste, or drop, that he gives to them.
The source of the word for infant, taf, is one of the words that is used for "prophecy," hatafah. This means "to bring something down, drop by drop." Prophecy, or Divine Spirit, seeps down, drop by drop, from a source which is infinitely super-rational. The simple meaning of taf is that he himself is a drop. The deeper meaning is that he is the source of the mazal elyon ("the higher mazal," the source of all Jewish souls, as explained in Kabbalah and Chassidut). The word mazal also comes from nozel, which means "flowing down." For the Jewish People, the taf is the source of all seeping down of Divine Spirit, drop by drop, hatafat ruach hakodesh tipin tipin. This "seeping down" of the taf passes first through the consciousness of the mother, the woman, and then finally reaches the father, the man. The reward that the infant brings the parents is something that seeps down from the level where the infant is connected to G-d into the consciousness of his parents.
Other chapters in this series:
- Teneh–Revealed and Concealed Levels of Torah
- Teneh – Categories of the Jewish People Correspond to Levels of Torah
- Hakhel – To Learn, to Hear, to Merit
- Taf (Children) – Drops and Prophecy
- Nashim (Women) – Breath and Soul
- Inner Dimension of Torah and the Inner Dimension of the Heat
- Redemption in Merit of Women and Children
- Search For My Inner Essence
- Two Levels of the Inner Dimension
- Israel, Torah, and God – Inner and External Dimensions
- Four Directions and the Four Worlds
- Emanation Consciousness – No Friction
- Face, Innerness, Glory, and Atzilut (Emanation)
- Awareness of a Higher Dimension Helps to Create a Good Year
