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G. Orah Adarah Paris

Parashat Vaera: More Powerful Than Imagination

Could emotions be more powerful than imagination? 

In this week’s parasha, we learn that at first, the Israelites could not listen to Moses because of their emotional state (6:9). Later on, when they go free, what would they really believe about a Gd whose physical existence they could not experience? We all know what happened later on when they imagined Gd in the form of a physical calf. Trying to imagine a physical shape for Gd was not the solution to building a connection with the non-corporeal Gd. What was more powerful, and which remains with us, their descendents, to this day is what they experienced of  Gd’s existence through the emotions that they felt during this time period: amazement, confidence, curiosity, gratitude and more. Often what we remember about an event is the emotions we feel more so than the physical experience of it, and that gives great power to the emotional resonance of an event.

This is linked to the subject I brought up last week of Zeir Anpin and Nukvah. As you may recall, in Kabbalah, the last sefirah – the one closest to the physical world  – is Malkhut or Shekhinah, a feminine aspect of Gd and therefore also referred to as Nukvah (Aramaic for “female”). Its male counterpart is called Zeir Anpin (the Small Face), which consists of the other six of the “lower” or “emotional” sefirot combined (these seven are a representation of all basic emotions). As I mentioned in my post on last week’s Parashat Shemot, the relationship of Zeir Anpin to Nukvah is sometimes compared to the Sun that shines onto the Moon. The latter does not generate light of its own, but is seen thanks to the Sun, and this can be likened to the energies of Zeir Anpin illuminating our physical experiences. The Nukvah is also a state of royalty (Malkhut) and through processing the emotions of Zeir Anpin, you can reach this state of calm and satisfaction. 

Perhaps because my parents encouraged me a lot to create, I admit that I can be a little obsessed (in a positive way) with creating meaningful things (such as these articles). I also like to create  more reasons to be at peace on Shabbat, and this leads to more feelings of enjoyment (oneg) on Shabbat as well. This past week, starting with candlelighting, and for the whole of Shabbat, I felt particularly calm, thanks to meditating on what I wrote about in the last article. I kept thinking about how I was feeling satisfied, so I would notice the reasons why that was. I experienced several unusual pleasant surprises. I will reveal the most meaningful of these at the end of this article. All of these surprises, though, gave me not just the feeling of satisfaction, but something even more: the feeling of being royally satisfied. What do I mean by that? We shall see.

Based on my reading of the Zohar and real-life situations I have experienced or heard about, I believe that emotion is more powerful than even imagination.. For one thing, proper imagination depends on emotion. Imagination can get stuck on one image or idea, but emotions are dynamic and informative of your present self and the resources provided to you by Gd. If you can get to the root of a given emotion it is always honest and tells you where you are in your life, what you need, and what you are aligned with. When this informs imagination, it helps to feed diversity and creativity into what you imagine. 

All emotions, whether they are so-called “positive” or “negative”, are potential energy within you that cannot just disappear. In physics, we learn that the total of all energy and matter is conserved,  and similarly, Gd usually works within the laws of nature. Combining these ideas, I would postulate that the emotions that we experience manifest themselves in our lives as either energy or some sort of  expression in our physical world. It is up to us, with the help of Gd, to make sure the result  is something good. 

Yesterday, a friend told me she was seeking to understand more of her purpose in life. I told her the answer will be found through exploring where she feels the most emotion. This works because it is from those emotions (whatever kind they are), that she can create the most.    

We learn best from stories, and so I want to share one with you, while keeping some of the details out of it for privacy. Some time ago, for work, I was talking with a woman who told me of a few dramatic things that happened in her life, and I felt particularly bad, hearing the story. My mind was too busy, and I didn’t think about just asking Gd to transform all these emotions into something more beneficial for the world. Then, within less than a day, I heard another emotional story from another woman – and with all the same emotional beats. I cannot remember ever hearing of a similar story before this, and now I heard two in two days. I was not surprised. My emotional reaction was like a magnet to attract another similar case in which I would have those same strong emotions of dread, but regarding someone else. 

How can we avoid this kind of repetitive cycle of emotion? The Zohar (27b) on this week’s parasha of Vaera spends a lot of time on the importance of Binah, and I think that this sefirah is key to dealing with this kind of situation. Now Binah literally means “understanding,” but in the context of a sefirah, it is also awareness and interpretation. The Zohar says it “elevates the water of the Nukvah to Chochmah” (the latter, in this context, is wisdom and ideation). Perhaps what it is saying is that by applying Binah to our emotions, we can reinterpret and recontextualize them into a new form through our imagination to break the cycle. 

The Zohar also talks about how our body is partly made up of the four elements of the “lower world” (23b): water, earth, fire and wind. You may already be familiar with these four “elements” and how they were regarded in ancient and medieval traditions. In medicine, they were referred to as four basic types of emotional imbalanceof: water (lust), earth (depression), fire (anger) and air (speech). In some contexts, the air (also representing the soul) is like consciousness and has dominion over the other elements. In a similar way, Binah can have dominion over the emotional sefirot and, through using it to process emotions, it can be used to  convert these imbalances into something useful and which feels emotionally true. For example, lust (curiosities), depression (seeking meaning), anger (passions), and speech (expressions).   

Rabbi Joseph Hertz (z”l) who was Chief Rabbi of the British Empire in the early 20th Century explains in his commentary on  this parasha (and next week’s) that when Gd performed the first nine of the Ten Plagues, He was working with what was already existing in nature. The water of the Nile between June and August would naturally get red from vegetation (thus, “blood”). The slime of the river would breed more frogs and then pests. According to this approach, what Gd did was make all these natural characteristics happen with great intensity and also to the benefit of the Israelites. This is connected to the midrashim describing how everything Gd needed to perform miracles later in the Torah, he created on the eve of the first Shabbat (see Pirkei Avot 5:6 for one example). “There is nothing new under the Sun”. 

In a similar way, we can say that Gd created already within each person everything they need to make “miracles” from their conscious awareness of their emotions, but also their awareness of Gd’s dominion over all.. Generally, Gd gives you the knowledge and awareness of how to do so, but there are also things we cannot do similarly to the last plague which is supernatural in nature. Even with all our scientific knowledge, we cannot create a disease that only wipes out firstborns.

Just as when we don’t process our emotions, they attract more of the same, we can say the same is true of the “miracles” we can create and our mental calmness. The miracles get bigger every time that you are amazed by a miracle. You can have more experiences in which you are amazed by a miracle – unless you counteract it with your consciousness. Every time you are proud of your “mental peace,” you experience more pride in your “mental peace,”  etc…You can say it is emotional inertia.

Now, there may be some caveats here where strong emotions can attract opposite emotions in the short-term while attracting similar ones in the long-term. For example, with strong emotions of joy, you might find yourself experiencing sadness afterwards that you may or may not be able to explain. Balance is the natural order of life. But our human awareness of this, with the help of Gd, can help us transcend this natural characteristic. 

So what does it mean to be “royally satisfied”? This is when you not only are satisfied with yourself, but when you see that even the people around you are getting better. A king (well, a good king) only feels fully satisfied when he knows his subjects are doing well under his stewardship. “Royally” also, of course, is related to the sefirah of Malkhut, and so involves a connection with the divine within our world.

Now, how do we get ourselves to that state of being “satisfied royally”? The practical reasons why the book of Psalms/Tehillim is so effective in bringing pleasant changes is because the entire book helps you to explore all your emotions when you take it to heart (not just reciting it by rote). In general, unless you feel otherwise, my advice for exploring emotions is to focus on the positive ones because “you find what you seek.” If you try to find where there are negative feelings within you to try to correct yourself, what do you think you will find? Plus, emotions are continuously evolving, so focus on one broad emotion and see what surprises you and what the people around you experience.  

So Zeir Anpin are the emotions that are always connected to the Nukvah (your physical reality, but also emotional state). Binah (understanding), however, also has a role as a catalyst to allow you to guide the direction of that physical and emotional reality for yourself. 

 May your understanding always empower you to be able to direct your emotions to royal satisfaction.

On a different topic but meditative poems to explore your emotions, check out my book:

Better Than You Wished For

About the Author
For specific questions, contact me: oragadarah_gmail.com A teacher of Torah, hypnotherapist, and artist. She has over 15 years experience organizing a variety of Jewish classes, and previously served as a synagogue board member and a Scout leader. She has studied psychology, physics, and Judaic studies. She aims to be elegantly interdisciplinary in all her work, to reflect the richness, beauty, and depth of life and Judaism. She is also finishing up her first novel, Girl Between Realms, a story of Jewish mysticism and Torah through the lens of one young woman’s journey. She recently published Better Than You Wished: Poetic meditations from Torah, Science and Life, link here: https://shorturl.at/ClD5Q . She is based in Paris, (like her last name), where she promoted the first community-wide series of Jewish events on sustainability.
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