Ki Teitze – The Beautiful Captive

Ki Teitze starts with a beautiful captive, a man having two wives, a stubborn and rebellious son and a man hung a tree…what is the logic behind all these?

According to Rashi, these are natural events following the beautiful captive, for when a man desires her and marries her, he will end up having two wives (for he already has one at home), and the family rivalry between the two wives will no doubt ensue, resulting in a stubborn and rebellious son who eventually becomes a criminal being hung on a tree.

The Kabbalists believe the solder fighting the war is a tzadik (righteous man) and as such the attraction from the beautiful woman bespeaks of the fallen sparks that are trapped in the woman in need of redemption.

How do we know this attraction stems from the inner soul? Torah therefore proceeds to prescribe the three steps to de-beautify the captive: cutting her hair, her fingernails and clothing her with sackcloth and bewailing her parents for one full month, hoping the passion for her will subside within the man. When all is set and done and the passion still persists, this in and of itself is a clear indicative that the attraction is not a carnal one, and the man may marry her.

A woman of goodly form in Hebrew is Eshet Yefat To’ar אֵשֶׁת, יְפַת תֹּאַר, if we skip one letter from the first letter, the five letters spell exactly Tiferet תִּפְאֶרֶת, which is Jacob, the remaining four letters spell Ishti אִשְׁתִּי, my wife.

The phrase Yefat To’ar יְפַת-תֹּאַר only appears twice in Torah, its first appearance is when Jacob desires Rachel, the same phrase is used here to describe this beautiful captive, obviously hinting to a connection between the two, for the quintessential love at first sight is that of Jacob and Rachel.

Teitze תֵצֵא and Vayetze וַיֵּצֵא is of the same root, which are the names of these two Parashiot, in both cases the man goes out and finds her love at first sight. The first time is Jacob, and the second time is this unnamed Tzadik, it may be surmised that Jacob is the man goes out to war, and Rachel is his beautiful captive.

The gematria of “Goodly form Rachel to Jacob” יְפַת תֹּאַר רָחֵל לְיַעֲקֹב in gematria is 1541, which is the gematria of Israel יִשְׂרָאֵל when Alef is counted as both 1 and 1000.

At the deeper level, the man goes out to war is Mashiach, and the beautiful captive is the lost sheep of the house of Israel, for Rachel רָחֵל in Hebrew means the female sheep.

It follows that “his house” is the house of Israel, cutting her hair means ridding off her perverted worldview, cutting her finger nail denotes correcting her actions, and changing her clothes means cleansing her filthiness, weeping means repentance, and her father is God, and her mother is Knesset Israel, and the month is Elul.

Love at first sight signifies selection and the Hebrew phrase “And YHVH has chosen the Bride to Yeshua Mashiach” וַיִּבְחַר יְהוָה כַּלָּה לִישׁוּעַ מָּשִׁיחַ  in gematria is 1081, exactly that of Tiferet תִּפְאֶרֶת.

Chosen in YHVH בָּחַר בַּיהוָה in gematria is 238, exactly that of Rachel רָחֵל.

Tiferet is the 6^th emotional attribute, corresponding the letter Vav in the Tetragrammaton, adding 6 to 1081, the result 1087 is exactly the gematria of the following verse:

If A Man Has Two Wives

Again this man is Jacob, and the hated wife is Leah, and the loved wife is Rachel, who is his beautiful captive.

The hated Senuah שְׂנוּאָה only appears in two places in Torah, one with the description of Leah, and one with the description of the man with two wives, obviously alluding to Jacob again.

The firstborn of the hated wife is Reuven but the firstborn right was given to Joseph, being the firstborn of the loved wife.

The phrase used to describe Reuven the first born in Gen 49:3 is וְרֵאשִׁית אוֹנִי i.e. “the beginning of my strength” which is essentially the same as the two phrases used here רֵאשִׁית אֹנוֹ i.e. “the beginning of his strength”(Due 21:17).

At a deeper level, Rachel is the spiritual mothers of all 12 sons, for she alone wept for the exile at the roadside (Jer 31:15).

Jacob has two wives and two concubines from whom four first-borns were issued, since he loved Rachel only, it is as if he has only one wife, thus Rachel is like paying double for his two wives.

Astonishingly, the gematria of the four first-borns is 476, which is exactly twice the gematria of Rachel which is 238 who is playing double:

The Rebellious Son

Then comes the stubborn and rebellious son, Ben Sorer U’Moreh בֵּן סוֹרֵר וּמוֹרֶה. According to the rabbis, this is entirely theoretical for it has never happened in history, and the only purpose of having this mitzvah is for man to study.

Now if the beautiful captive is Rachel, and the man that has two wives is Jacob, it follows that this mysterious son is none other than Joseph, the son that was regarded by his ten brothers as a dismal failure worthy of death.

Joseph is the only man that is described of “beautiful form and fair to look upon” יְפֵה-תֹאַר וִיפֵה מַרְאֶה (Gen 49:6), which is the exact same phrase used for Rachel, albeit its masculine for Joseph and feminine for Rachel.

The signature remark made by Joseph in revealing himself to his brothers is “I am Joseph, is my father still alive” (Gen 45:3), astonishingly, the gematria is exactly that of the stubborn and rebellious son, if Joseph is further qualified as the son of Jacob:

Since Joseph is the prototype of Yeshua in the New Testament, it follows that this stubborn and rebellious son at the deeper level is the secret of Yeshua, in fact, the signature description of this rebellious son is “glutton and drunkard”, i.e. Zolel v’Sove זוֹלֵל וְסֹבֵאwhich is exactly the phrase Yeshua used to describe himself in Matt 11:19.

The gematria of “stubborn and rebellious son a glutton and a drunkard” in gematria is 917, exactly that of Yeshua the Natzri King of the Jews:

You Hang Him On the Tree

This mysterious person is revealed in the New Testament as none other than Yeshua.

According to Arizal, this tree is the tree of knowledge of good and evil, for the man Ish אִישׁ is no ordinary man but Cheit Mishpat Mavet חֵטְא מִשְׁפַּט מָוֶת which is interpreted by Arizal as death lacking justice, for Chet חֵטְא can mean lacking, and he who dies lacking justice is innocent, and the only reason for his death can only attribute to the tree of knowledge of good and evil.

It follows that this is the tree of life being nailed to the tree of knowledge of good and evil, as explained elsewhere.

Death lacking Justice חֵטְא מִשְׁפַּט מָוֶתin gematria is 893, which is exactly the gematria of spelling out of “The Mashiach” when Hey is spelled out with a Yud, as follows:

It is thus by the death of the righteous that the curse is transformed to blessing, as it is written:

The gematria is 1091, which is exactly the same gematria of Yefat To’ar יְפַת תֹּאַר, for the whole episode is for the beautiful captive, which is the lost sheep of Israel, as it were. The following phrases all have the gematria of 1091:

Finally, if we are to summarize the four mitzvoth by quoting the key phrases from the Torah and analyze their gematria:

The average number of the four cases is: 5848 / 4 = 1462, which is the gematria of “Star out of Jacob” spelled out as follows:

“Star from Jacob” is a prophecy about the coming of Mashiach in Torah (Num 24:17).