Father of a Failed Messiah

Joel David Bakst ©2000-2013

“Isaac loved Esau…” Genesis 25:28

“I loved you,” said HaShem, and you [the Nation of Israel] said, “How have you loved us?”  Was not Esau a brother of Jacob – the words of HaShem – yet I loved Jacob.  But I hated Esau…”

After 20 years of marriage, Isaac and Rebecca’s prayers are answered and she conceives twins.  The pregnancy is very difficult.  God reveals to Rivka that two great nations will descend from these twins — Rome (later Christianity) and Israel.  Esav (Esau) is born with Yaakov holding onto Esav’s heel.  As they develop Esav becomes a hunter, a man of the physical world, whereas Yaakov sits in the tents of Torah developing his soul.  On the day of their grandfather Avraham’s funeral, Yaakov is cooking lentils, the traditional mourner’s meal.  Esav rushes in, ravenous from a hard day’s hunting, and sells his birthright (and its joint spiritual responsibilities and mission) for a bowl of “red stuff” (red lentils) and “therefore he [also] called his name Edom” – “the Red One” (adom is Hebrew for red).

        Years later, when Yitzchak is preparing to leave the world, he summons Esav to initiate him into his esoteric mission via the “blessings” that he received from his father Avraham.  While in a state of prophecy, it is revealed to Rivka, that the blessings must go to Yaakov and not to Esav.  She arranges for Yaakov to impersonate Esav in order to receive the blessings.  When a traumatized Esav reveals to his father that Yaakov has bought the birthright from him, Yitzchak realizes that the birthright has been bestowed correctly on Yaakov and confirms the blessings he has given Yaakov.  Esav vows to kill Yaakov, so Rivka sends Yaakov to her brother Lavan where he may also find a wife.

This is one of the most difficult and enigmatic sections to understand in the entire Torah. We find Yaakov apparently deceiving his father and 'stealing' the blessings from his twin brother Esav.  This is perplexing to understand, especially in terms of what we are taught -- "He gives Truth to Jacob..." [Micah 7:20]. Yaakov Avinu is the Patriarch that personifies the attribute of Truth, yet Yaakov 'steals' the blessing, “deceives” his father and “imposters” his brother.  Yet, Yaakov is the master tzadik and the embodiment of truth.  So, what could lie beneath the cloak concealing Yaakov’s bizarre behavior?

Perhaps an even greater difficulty is how is it possible that Esav, and not Yaakov, was the favorite son of Yitzchak?  When approaching any of the Biblical personalities, especially the Patriarchs, we need to apply the principle "Are we dealing here with fools”?! (“Atu b’shuftanay askinan?!”).  Yes, each one was human with character flaws, compulsions and failings from which we learn, in retrospect, how to perfect ourselves and develop Torah-based moral and ethical standards (known in Hebrew as mussar).  Thus, many psychological, ethical and social lessons are derived from the pshat -- the simple narrative – of Isaac’s behavior and the relationship with his two sons.

But here the comparison stops.  Our Biblical forefathers – including Isaac -- were initiated into something that we have long lost and have virtually no idea that it even existed.  The ancient Torah masters had a plan.  Every Biblical character had access to a virtual library of highly detailed cosmic maps of creation and esoteric knowledge and methodically planned their actions in accordance.  They had a kabbalah, literally a received esoteric tradition, transmitted from master to disciple and constantly “”upgraded” through the agency of prophecy and ruach hakodesh (Divine Spirit).

Therefore, when probing the behavior of the Patriarch Isaac, imagine not what you would be doing if you were he.  Rather, imagine that if there were in his hands the blueprints and mathematical-like formulas of the creation process and its consequent collapse what did he think he was doing.  Assume that every single action or word that was performed and uttered was premeditated and executed with total consciousness.  Now, ask yourself, "What was Isaac’s hava ameena — the underlying proactive hypothesis — to act the way he did towards Esav?  And when you think you have an answer, then ask yourself again in light of who Esav is, “But, still how could Isaac, the master sage-mystic, do that?!”

What was Yitzchak thinking when he wanted to give the blessings to Esav?  How could he not see the blatant deception and base character of Esav that is so evident in the oral traditions of the Torah?  Could such a wild, earthy individual -- the epitome of arrogance, deception and pleasure seeking -- be the one to be initiated into the secret mission to rectify the world from the Fall of Adam?  Could Esav be the one to inherit the leading role from Isaac that was passed down from Abraham and those masters before him going back to Adam himself?  Could Esav, the wicked, the archetypal root of the Roman Empire and later the collective soul of the Catholic Church and Christianity, be the “good guy”?!  The answer, as staggering as it appears, is even more than that.  The truth be told, Esav was destined to be the Messiah for the entire world.  The question, however, is which messiah?  Not the well-known Messiah from the loins of King David.  Rather, Esav was the potential Mashiach ben Yoseph, the Messiah from the lineage of Joseph.

The Split Messiah

Although the concept of a second messiah is new to most of us, it is not new in Torah cosmology.  In fact, it is fundamental.  Mashiach ben Yoseph is half of a larger picture.  The other half, which is more familiar, is Mashiach ben David, the Messiah from the lineage of King David, or simply the Messiah.  Together they are known in the Zohar and elsewhere as the Trein M'sheecheen - the Aramaic term for the Two Messiahs - Mashiach ben Yoseph and Mashiach ben David.  Each of the two messiahs can only be understood in relationship to each other.  Although they operate in their individual roles, each one is dependent upon the other and they influence each other.  Theoretically, the Two Messiahs act in partnership and assist each other.  Until the final tikun of Adam they continue to exist in every generation.  Mashiach ben Yoseph in the sod of "Yoseph lives on" and Mashiach ben David in the sod of "David King of Israel lives forever."  It is the symbiotic union - or antagonism - between these two cosmological forces that form the hidden landscape upon which all the dramas of the Bible take on a new and very different perspective.  It is upon the esoteric teaching of the Two Messiahs that the epic of Yitzchak and his twin sons unfolds.

Now, why two messiahs?[1]  Why any messiah at all? What is the purpose of a Mashiach?  The Mashaich is the individual who is at the center of a universal process of tikun.  Tikun means "rectification" or "mending."  In the Kabbalah tikun also refers to a process of "elevation" and "transformation."  Whereas the second definition implies taking something that is already complete into a more refined state, the first definition implies that something has been broken, and the immediate goal is only to return it to its original state of completion.  These are the two modes of tikun.

When something has been broken it obviously is not complete and it cannot function to its full capacity.  It is, in a sense, in a state of "fallenness" or "captivity" until it receives its proper tikun.  Its tikun is then its redemption from its captive state.  The one who performs that act of restoration is said to be its redeemer (goel) which is another name for a messiah.  We know that because of the miscalculation of Adam a cosmic "fall" ensued which affected the entirety of creation.  Messiah is the one who spearheads the restoration (tikun) and the redemption (geulah) of creation.

Yet, even the second definition of tikun as elevation and transformation implies a subtle form of captivity, which requires a process of redemption.  Something can be complete, but still have the capacity to evolve to a higher level.  As long as it has not yet attained that higher level, then it too can be said to be in a state of captivity that requires redemption.  The one who performs that act of transformation is said to be its redeemer, for he has released it from the bondage of its static level of completion.  This type of redeemer is also a Messiah.

At present we can understand the need for the first type of Messiah - one who will restore the world to its former state.  But where does the second type fit into the picture?  When was the world so complete that it needed only to be elevated to higher levels of completion and perfection?

This was the case in the Garden of Eden.  Originally, when Adam was created he was placed into a world that was essentially perfect.  His mission was to elevate and transform that which was already in a completed state.  Life was undergoing an awesome spiritual evolution.  The entire hierarchy -- human, animal, plant and mineral -- was rising up higher and higher.  The one orchestrating this was Adam.  Even in the original utopian description of the Garden of Eden Adam was life's redeemer and the World Messiah.

After the eating of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, reality radically changed and so did Adam's mission.  Adam now had a new task to perform.  A new mode of tikun was required -- the tikun of restoration and purification.  His original mission of transformation had not been nullified.  It only means that until he mends that which has been torn his original task gets delayed.  In the end he will return to complete it as well.

Adam, wearing the clothing of world humanity, is now two steps removed from the goal of creation.  First we have to fix what has been damaged (through the eating of the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge) and then we have to take up where Adam left off (his original directive in the Garden of Eden “to work it and to guard it”).  Where there was originally needed only one mode of tikun, now there are two modes.  Where there was originally intended to be one redeemer, now there are two - one for each mode of tikun.  These two are referred to as the Trein M'sheecheen - the Two Messiahs.  Because of the Fall, Adam had, in effect, split himself into two personas with two missions.  Adam is the Split Messiah.

The messianic process whose mission is fundamentally involved with the physical world and earthly restoration is known as Mashiach ben Yoseph.  The process whose mission is one of spiritual elevation, transformation and completion is known as Mashiach ben David.  How these processes function is extremely complex and often hidden.  What we do know is that there are two avenues of operation.  Both missions can incarnate in two individuals within the same generation.  At other times, however, it is required that both messianic processes will coexist within a single person.  The most critical and potentially disastrous time in all world history when this occurred was with Isaac and his twin sons.

Messianic Surgery

All the family members – Yitzchak, Rivka, Yaakov and Esav – knew the name of the game and that they were the key players in a great cosmic drama to rectify the damaged root of the Tree of Knowledge.  The stakes were as high as they could get and every move was premeditated.  The father, the mother and the twin sons all had total consciousness and knew who they really were, where they were coming from and where they were going.  Yaakov was the Mashiach ben David for that generation.  His counterpart was Esav who was the potential Mashiach ben Yoseph.  Acting together they had the ability to initiate and complete the final tikun for all reality.  All factors being equal, there never would have been the history of the world as we know it, and reality would have “quantum jumped” back into the higher dimensionality of Adam before the Fall.

        But all the factors were not equal, the primordial serpent struck again; the soul of Esav became infected and it spread throughout his soul beyond recovery.  As is known in the Kabbalah, that which emanates from the left side, as does the gevurot of Mashiach ben Yoseph, is more vulnerable to infection.  Although more powerful than the right side, the left is the first and the hardest to be hit.  The extent of the Esav’s spiritual contamination was first revealed to Rivka, then to Yaakov and finally to Yitzchak, the father of the failed messiah.  Matters were now a state of emergency, a “red-red” alert.  The failsafe mechanism was to salvage the holy sparks of the Mashiach ben Yoseph that dwelt within Esav, to redeem them and unite them with its other half, the soul of the Mashiach ben David.  Yaakov had to absorb into his being the remaining elements of the uncontaminated parts of the Mashiach ben Yoseph of his brother Esav.  The entire modus operandi of every thing he said and did recorded in Scripture was for this purpose.  Rivka and Yaakov masterminded a spiritual conspiracy of utterly mind-boggling proportions.  Yaakov was performing cosmic surgery on the soul of his possessed twin brother to redeem the captive soul of the Mashiach ben Yoseph and to transplant it into his own soul!

This is why Yaakov had to not only act like, but also literally dress up as Esav.  On the deepest level he literally become Esav, that is, the holy aspect of the Mashiach ben Yoseph within Esav.  In order to receive the flow of divinity that Yitzchak was blessing his son it still had to be the cosmic force of Mashiach ben Yoseph and not Mashiach ben David, which was receiving it.  When Yaakov declared, “I am Esav, your first born”, he was literally occupying the “soul space” of Esav as it exists in its sacred root above.  It was only afterwards that the Mashiach ben Yoseph aspect of “Esav” was re-possessed by the aspect of Mashiach ben David within Yaakov and re-united.  The “holy” Esav really did get the blessings, only they were now integrated into a single individual, Yaakov.  It was messianic surgery the likes of which had never occurred before and never will again.  The entire course of history pivoted upon the Patriarch “stealing” the birthright and “impersonating” Esav.  He now incarnated both of the messiahs and his life was dedicated to fulfilling the mission of both Mashiach ben David and Mashiach ben Yoseph.  The complete "incorporation" of the Mashiach ben Yoseph, however, would not culminate until the showdown with Esav’s angel, the highest root of Esav.  “Ya'akov Avinu began his mission as Mashiach ben Yoseph from the day that he struggled and overcame the Oversoul of Esav”.[2]  It was then that the unification was complete and he received his additional name “Yisrael”, redefining his new entity.  This is also the esoteric reason why Yaakov was "forced" to marry Leah, who originally had been destined to marry Esav.[3]

We can now appreciate the depths of the words of the prophet Malachi:  “I loved you,” said HaShem, and you [the Nation of Israel] said, “How have you loved us?”  Is not Esau a brother of Jacob – the words of HaShem – yet I loved Jacob.  But I despised Esau…”  (Malachi 1:2-3).  The formula, “Is not Esau a brother of Jacob “is equating them above in their spiritual root where the essence of both is holy of holies.  In their soul root Esav and Yaakov are equal, but below; in his presently manifested state, Esav is contaminated and therefore, “ I loved Jacob.  But I hated Esau…”[4]

Clues at the Scene of the Crime

The full scope of Esau’s complex and paradoxical nature, Isaac’s faith and expectations in him and Rivka’s and Jacob’s spiritual conspiracy is beyond this present chapter.  Here, however, are a few more clues found at the “scene of the crime”.  Clue, in Hebrew, is remez, one of the four modes of Torah exploration.  Clues do not draw conclusions or supply answers; rather they only point to a direction.  It is up to the reader to “get the point”, connect the dots and envision the “big picture”.  Here are some clues for the inquiring mind into the mystery of the father of a failed messiah.

‘Perhaps Esau is different because he is a Jewish apostate.” (Talmud Kiddushin 18a).  (The context of the discussion there is a verse in the Torah that mentions Esav (as Edom) as an example of a gentile to deduce the Torah’s position regarding non-Jewish laws of inheritance.  A proof from Esav was rejected because, although he was a traitor to his faith, he was still Jewish!  This is a powerful source for the original, inherent “Jewishness” of Esav.

        King David was another Mashiach ben David who incorporated the qualities of Mashiach ben Yoseph.  He is “ruddy” (admoni), the identical term used for Esav, but he also has the characteristics “with fine eyes” (I Samuel 16-12), i.e., his left side of the gevurot were sweetened and mitigated by his “right side” of the hasadim, the aspect of Mashiach ben David.[5]

        The lost spark of Jewishness trapped in Esav may explain another peculiar event in the life of Esav.  Later he marries two women of Hittite origin.  One of them is named Yehudit – Judith.  It always appeared to me highly unorthodox that Esav, the archetypal non-Jew and anti-Semite would marry a woman whose name literally means “Jewish” (Yehudi” would be the masculine form).  Furthermore, Yehudit has been a Jewish woman’s name throughout Jewish history.  I have never seen any commentary on this quirk of Scripture.  It appears to me, however, that the Torah is alluding to the mitigated feminine gevurot of Esav, which are at the essence of Esav and will be revealed in the future when he receives his tikun.  He will be united with his brother’s faith and will no longer be considered a “Jewish apostate”.

This principle is explicit in another statement of the sages.  “Esav’s head rests in the lap of Yitzchak”.  This parallels the formula, “In the future the pig will return to its holiness (pig – chazir -- shares the same root for the Hebrew word for return.)  In the future the pig and Esav will restore the crown to its Master, as we know from a verse in Prophets (Ovadiah 1-21), “The [two] redeemers will ascend Mt. Zion… and the kingdom will be HaShem’s”.[6]  The two redeemers are the Trein M'sheecheen, the twin messiahs, both coming full circle for the final tikun.[7]

        “Know that the root of Esav was originally holy which emanates from the gevura of the tifferet of zeir anpin [the collective Adamic soul].  Now, tifferet oscillates between hesed [the right side] and gevura [the left side].  It is the aspect of the “right side” from which [the soul of] Yaakov emanates and it is the aspect of the “left side” from which [the soul of] Esav emanates.  Therefore, they were twins in the mystery of the verse, “Is not Esav Yaakov’s brother”?  For in truth, they originally existed on one level, which is not the case with the relationship between Yitzchak and Yishmael [who were only half brothers born of different mothers]”.

“Understand that Esav also had the capacity to be holy, both of them “Good sons of the Lord”.  I will explain to you the function of each one.  Know that two goals need to be accomplished.  One, the proliferation of the holy on all of its levels and two, the subjugation of the “other side” [root of evil] to the holy.  The proliferation of the holy was Yaakov’s mission and the subjugation of forces of evil on all of its levels was Esav’s mission.  In truth, such a process is impossible except for the one whose soul emanates from the self-same root.”[8]

In conclusion we can now understand another wise bizarre statement from the school of the Gaon of Vilna, “Esav and Shalom have the same gematria in the sod of cosmic parallelism.[9] It is this astoundingly complex nature of Esav’s “shalom” that lies at the mystery of the Father of a Failed Messiah.

The Nephilim
Fallen Angels or Cosmic Fallout?

Joel David Bakst ©2000, 2010, 2014

     “When mankind began to multiply on the face of the earth, and daughters were born to them, the sons of god (bney elohim) saw that their daughters were beautiful, and they took for themselves wives from any that they chose.  So HaShem said, “My Spirit will not always protect mankind—his days will be a hundred and twenty years.  The Nephilim were on the earth in those days (and also after this) when the sons of god came into the daughters of man and they gave birth to them.  They were the mighty men of old, the men of renown”.

     There are many passages throughout the Torah that are strange and problematic. None may be as controversial as the account of the nephilim and “sons of god” having relations with humans.[1]  This section has been alternately branded as a remnant of primitive mythology, fanciful fiction or Biblical proof of extraterrestrial interbreeding with Homo sapiens.  Traditional Kabbalah with access to the secret teachings of the rabbis, however, presents a very different and unexpected picture of this Biblical mystery.  From the perspective of the Kabbalah just who are the bney elohim and the nephilim?  Before we can answer this question we have to first step back a bit and recall the true nature of Biblical text.

Through the Eyes of the Talmudic Sage-Mystics

     One of the great sage-mystics of the Talmud transmitted a secret cipher to the initiated: "R. Shimon ben Lakish said, 'There are many verses in the Torah which to all appearances ought to be burnt like the books of the heretics [either because they appear incredulous, blasphemous or simply superfluous], but they are really the very essence of the Torah (Hain, hain gufay haTorah)”.[2]  This is known in the inner teachings of the sages as Galut Hatorah – the exile of the Torah.

     The principle of Torah in Exile is well known in the Kabbalah and I have written about it elsewhere.[3]  Primarily due to the catastrophic events surrounding the Golden Calf and the breaking of the first set of the Ten Commandments (shvirat Luchot haRishonim) certain aspects of the higher-dimensional, primordial Torah – the cosmic code of creation – collapsed, and was forced to go into hiding to protect itself from a pantheon of diabolical adversaries (the “Other Side”, the Primordial Serpent and its legions).  In all cases these aspects of the Torah take refuge or become captive in the last of all places we would think to look, "clothed in garments and foreign kelipot (shells) that are not befitting her nor comely to her".  It is Supernal Wisdom itself that goes into exile.

     A 20^th century Talmudic sage-mystic from the School of the Gaon of Vilna explains, "[Now, consequent to the Fall of Adam] the External Forces have control over the emanations of the Light of Knowledge that descends below... this is the exile of the Torah.  Therefore, the Torah has become clothed in this world in garments and foreign klipot (shells) that are not befitting her nor comely to her as, for example, the section at the end of section VaYishlach, 'And these are the kings that reigned in the land of Edom...’.  Likewise, is this so in the section of parashat D'varim (Deuteronomy), 'And the Ivvim who dwelt in Hatzerim...'  [i.e., the entire passage appears to be superfluous] and similarly in many places as it is discussed in the Talmud.[4]  In the same manner there are numerous aggadot of the Sages that are difficult to even listen to and one's sensibilities are astounded at them.  Yet, within them are hidden the secrets of the Torah.  This is all due to the emanations of the Light of Knowledge becoming clothed in the Shells and in the External Forces, God save us.  The exile of the Shechina, the exile of the People of Israel and the exile of the Torah are all due to the original fall of Adam".[5]

Breaking of the Vessels: Prelude to the Nephilim

     Although the passage of the bnay elohim and the Nephilim is outwardly more interesting than what appears as dry chronologies and redundant verses it certainly has also been mocked by Bible critics and abused by “new age” occultists.  According to the Kabbalah, however, the Torah has once again “revealed one handbreadth and [simultaneously] concealed two”.  This account has nothing to do neither with mythology nor with extraterrestrial life.  The mechanics behind the nephilim occupies one of the most esoteric areas of Jewish mysticism and its secret has remained well hidden.  What will be stated in this essay is nothing more than a drop in the ocean of an entire field of knowledge that is no less complex than, for example, quantum mechanics.  We will only be pointed in the right direction.  That direction, however, is to go back in time to the universe that preceded Genesis.  Amazingly, the key to secret of the nephilim is found in the secret of the Kings of Edom!

     The Death of the Primordial Kings has been explained in a separate essay.[6]  The Edomite Kings are alluded to in the Talmud, midrash and the Zohar. Briefly, the section at the end of parshat VaYishlach, 'And these are the kings that reigned in the land of Edom…” is a codex and digest of a fundamental doctrine of the Kabbalah, namely the details of how our present reality has been formed out of worlds preexistent to the universe of Genesis.  The Land Of Edom is also known as the World of Tohu – “Chaos”.  As known in the Kabbalah all realties – macro and micro – are made out of sefirot, constellations of 10 aspects or emanations of Divinity.  This is true even in the primordial dimensions. In the Tohu stage of the creation process each sefirotic vessel undergoes a breakage, death and apparent chaotic, cosmic upheaval before it can then be reconstructed and resurrected in the rectified world of Genesis.  This “cosmic womb” process is known throughout Torah as the Breaking of the Vessels (Shevirat haKelim).  Also, because each sefira is a Kingdom onto itself, each “king” is said to reign in an infinite flash (from our temporal perspective) and “dies”.  The collapse of these vessels (which are the seven lower of the 10 sefirot) are the Death of the Primordial Kings.

     This is the literal meaning of the Torah’s opening verses, “In the Beginning…And the ground [the remnants of the previous worlds] was tohu [chaos]…”. It is upon the “ground” of this primordial universe that Genesis is built.  The new universe of Genesis was resurrected out of the previous reality.  This second verse of the Torah is also a complex formula that contains the genetic-like code to a detailed calculus of preexistent worlds out of which our present reality is constructed.  They are also known as the 974 Primordial Generations.  Rashi, the most famous of the Medieval Bible commentaries, quoting an ancient midrash on these verses in the Torah, alludes to their aborted birth, “In the beginning it arose in the Divine thought to create the [prior] world with the attribute of din (constricting gevura), but He saw that it would be too unstable, and therefore generated the attribute of compassion (rachamim – the balance between the right-side of chesed and the left-side of din-gevura) and integrated it with the din”.[7]  Because there was too much din a process of cosmological catharthis rebalanced that universe and the 974 Primordial Generations, a.k.a. the Edomite Kings, aborted in a cosmic implosion of unimaginable proportions in order to expel the excess dinim.

Aborted “Sons of God” and Miscarried “Daughters of Men”

     The secrets explaining the Kings in the Land of Edom is the precursor for the bney elohim and the bnot adam.  Although numerous theories have been posited as to who or what are the “sons of god”, the “daughters of man” (bnot adam) has not been questioned. It is always assumed that they are female Homo sapiens.  Yet, according to the secret the bnot adam are not fundamentally referring to earthly women at all!  Rather, both bney elohim and bnot adam are code words that the Torah is using to quantify specific coordinates in the spiritual realm that are cosmically connected to the events of the Tohu.[8]  But how can a cosmological event that occurred prior to our present creation be affecting reality after Genesis during the period of the nephilim.  Rather, due to the catastrophic miscalculation of with the Tree of Knowledge, Adam caused the entirety of the newly reconstructed and resurrected reality to again experience a partial shevira, a rupture that echoed and even recapitulated in ratio the primordial Deaths of the Edomite Kings.  Reality, post Genesis, now also required a purging and expulsion of these volatile and contaminated elements.[9]  The technical terms used in Scripture for the positive and negative polarities of these radio active-like “heavy elements” are bney elohim and bnot adam.

     In the Kabbalah the Fall of reality is also known as the nefilla (specifically nefillat haDa’at) the same word used for the nephilim and this is no coincidence. The passage of the nephilim has encrypted the formula that maps out the cosmological interaction that occurred in the overlapping stages in the aftermath of the Tohu and in the evolutionary stages of Genesis.  Simply put, the nephilim are the radio active-like residue of the spiritual waste material that was left over from the Tohu and the klipot/shells from the Shevira. This is clearly evident in the word nefillim, which in the singular is nefil – an aborted fetus, a miscarriage.[10]  In our case it is a spiritual miscarriage, a cosmic mutation that was aborted and fell from a higher dimension to a lower realm, namely our present realm of this world.  The “fallen angles” are really cosmic fallout. The Ari zal writes:[11]

There are occasions when spiritual miscarriages (nephilim, singular: nifil – lit. aborted, miscarriage) occur in the mystery of “the nephilim were in the land”.  This is because the malchut, the supernal feminine, aborted them in the secret of the nephilim.  And since they came from such an origin (rejected and ejected spiritual matter) therefore they destroyed their seed upon the earth [one of the major transgressions of the generation of the Flood).  Understand this.  The reason, however, that they were aborted to begin with is because they were in their essence dinim kashim, harsh judgements (constricting gevurot). It was revealed before the Divine Mind that they had no good elements that were redeemable and consequently the supernal female (malchut) aborted them.  More specifically, bney elohim and bnot adam refer respectfully to the masculine and feminine aspects of the q’lipot, the “other side” or “back side” of kedusha.  They are both manifestations of the volatile gevurot that when left unmitigated (without hasadim) are shed off and expelled from each respective spiritual level.[12]

II
Biblical Truth: The External Narrative or the Inner Wisdom?

     Regarding the millennial old unbroken Kabbalah tradition, one of the close disciples of the Gaon of Vilna, the great Talmudic Kabbalah master R. Menachem Mendel of Shklov, wrote in the 19^th century  (Biurim v’Likutim end of Mayim Adirim, 1987 Jerusalem):

It is time to act for the Lord for they have made void your Torah” (Psalms 119:126). It is revealed and known before the One Who spoke and brought the world into existence that I am not revealing [these secrets], God forbid, for my own aggrandizement… [but rather for the purpose] that the true Torah teachings of the Kabbalah will not be forgotten. [These teachings] are in our possession from the time of Moshe Rabbienu, generation after generation without any interruption whatsoever until this day. It is only that they have been hidden on the bottom of the ocean floor of the Wisdom of the ancient ones”.

     Although mostly unknown, the Torah has been handed down in an unbroken tradition from master to disciple. This is the true meaning of the very word Kabbalah – “received transmission”. This tradition comes with a methodology that is almost unknown outside of a number of small fraternities of Torah scholars. Without applying this methodology it is impossible to understand what the intent of the Torah really is. Without this tradition – which requires a long process of initiation – the Torah will remain nothing more than as if it was an artifact from a higher-dimension of the future (which in many ways this is what it is).

     One of the guidelines in approaching Scripture is to realize that it is not a history book simply recording events that took place in ancient times. Nor is the Torah a collection of allegorical or mythological stories that are open to anyone’s interpretation. Rather, the Torah is a cosmic code whose mathematical-like notation is a string of equations that, all together, constitute one very large equation which in turn, are all condensed into the root formula – Y-H-V-H, the “name of God”. Moreover, the formulas of the Torah, also known as the Scriptural “verses” are records of recurring patterns that have been iterating throughout time and space and even (especially) from before space-time as we now know it.

     In the case of the Nephilim, whatever they are their truth must be applicable on all levels of reality. This law of Torah understanding is so true that whatever the Nephilim were in their antediluvian setting had to be true even before the “historical” Nephilim. In other words, the inner secret of the Nephilim is a spiritual phenomenon that exists, in ration, on every level of reality and at every time to a greater or lesser extent.  “The Nephilim were on the earth in those days (and also after this)” is a formula that existed before the Nephilim as well as after the Nephilim.

     One of the greatest Talmudic sage-mystics and authoritative transmitters of the unbroken tradition of the Kabbalah stretching all the way back to Moses and even back to the actual period of the Nephilim from the 13^th century is Ramban (Rabbi Moshe ben Nachman), also known as Nachmanides. He also addresses the enigma of the Nephilim in his classic commentary on the Torah (Chumash). After positing various logical explanations concerning the identity of the Nephilim and the bney elohim Ramban writes:

This is the appropriate simple explanation (pshat) of this section. The Midrash of Rabbi Eliezer the Great [Perkie DiRebbe Eliezer, Chapter 22], however, in the chapters concerning the angelic entities that fell from their place of holiness in heaven – as is mentioned in the Talmud Tractate Yoma [67b] – conforms to the [literal] language of the verse more than all other interpretations. But this would require going into the secret of the matter at length.

     This then is an outline of the “inside story” of the “Sons of God”.  Yet, with all that said and done another problem lies lurking.  The pshat/simple meaning of the bney elohim apparently has nothing to do with the sod/secret – and we know that that simply cannot be.  The inner meaning of a verse can never be divorced from its outer garment. The literal meaning is as follows (ArtScroll):

Bney elohim: The sons of the rulers.  These were the sons of the princes and judges, for elohim always implies rulership [as in Exodus 4:16: and you shall be his eloah (singular) master (Rashi).  The daughters of man were the daughters of the general populace (R' Saadia Gaon); the multitude, the lower classes (Rambam, Moreh 1: 1 4), who did not have the power to resist their superiors (Radak).  Thus, the Torah begins the narrative of the tragedy by speaking of the subjugation of the weak by the powerful. [Targum Onkelos also translates as “men of distinction or mighty men”].

Nefellim: They were giants - the same race that terrified Moses' spies (Numbers 13:33).  They were given this title from the root nfl, to fall, because they fell and caused others to fall (Rashi), through their egregious sinfulness (Gur Aryeh).  Alternatively, they were so called because the hearts of those who saw them fell in amazement at their size (Ibn Ezra).

     Yet the Zohar and Talmud are explicit that the bney elohim are “angels” and not rulers.  Even the names of these angelic entities are known.  “The nephilim were upon the earth”.  R. Jose says, following a tradition, that these were Uzza and Azael, whom, as already mentioned, God deprived of their supernal sanctity”.[13]

     The Talmud[14] states that the Scapegoat (Sair l’Azazel) that is sacrificed by the Kohen Gadol on Yom Kippur also atones for the acts of Uzza and Azael.  Rashi writes, “Uzza and Azael are destructive angels that descended to earth in the days of Naama the sister of Tuval Cain [in the generation of Noah].  Regarding them it is stated, “The bney elohim [the angels] beheld the daughters of man, i.e., this Scapegoat atones for acts of sexual immorality.”

     The contradiction is even more acutely pointed out by a noted non-kabbalistic source, the Torah Temima.  The Torah Temima (“Complete” or “Pure” Torah) is a modern classic written by Rabbi Baruch Halevi Epstein (1860-1942).  It is a running commentary on the Chumash that connects every verse with its corresponding oral tradition in the Talmud and midrash.  His goal is to explain the logic of the Talmud as to why and how it expounds the syntax and nuances of each verse.  In passing he points out a problem that he leaves unresolved.

     He writes that it should not surprise us that angelic entities could become corporeal because in those times (antediluvian) reality was very different than it is today.  And it is not a problem that the different sources in the Oral Tradition can disagree with each other [although according to the kabbalists this only appears to be the case].  But what has no explanation, according to Rabbi Epstein, is the following midrash:

Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai said, “Bney elohim – these are bney hadayanim, judges (or rulers).  And Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai would place a curse on anyone who would call them angels”.[15]

     How can Rabbi Shimon of the Midrash argue – and so vehemently – with the Zohar when Rabbi Shimon is the author of the Zohar?!  The question is left unanswered.

     A possible resolution would be that the Rashbi (Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai) quoted in the midrash is purposefully concealing the deeper truth of the bney elohim with a decoy.  The full depths of the bney elohim and the nephilim and their consequences are “matters that stand in the heights of the heavens” and are far beyond us.  Until relatively recently even alluding to their deeper truth was not permitted to be discussed in public.  The Rashbi was protecting the sacred crown jewels.

“These and Those are Both the Words of the Living God”

     A deeper answer and certainly a more revelatory one, however, may be this.  The pshat is that the bney elohim are judges.  The sod is that they are angles and the nephilim are either another name for the same bney elohim or they are a hybrid species born of human and angelic parents.  That sod, however, is only the pshat of the sod, an outer garment that it must wear to even begin to manifest itself in this world.  This is often the case with that which appears as Jewish mysticism or even the text of the Zohar itself, as in our case here.  True sod is the neshamah of the neshamah, the soul of the soul -- the soul of the sod.

     As explained above fundamentally bney elohim are not angels and the bnot adam are not earthly women.  They are forces and processes that are part of the divine “physiology” of creation dealing specifically with primordial realities and their interface with the current reality.  These phenomena are details of the consequences of the eating of the Tree of Knowledge.  Both the “sons” and the “daughters” here refer to a catharthis of the gevurot that are being expelled from respective higher worlds (e.g. the kelipah of beriah, yitzirah and asiya).  These gevurot are also known as dinim or dinim kashim, “harsh judgements”.  Din is the same root as dayan, a judge.  When the Rashbi places a curse upon those who claim the bney elohim to be angels and not dayanim it is because they have anthropomorphized and debased the higher truth.  The deeper pshat of bney elohim as “judges” is directly pointing us to the esoteric nature of the bney elohim, that they are the root of judgement, the “harsh judgements” of din.  Amazingly the simple pshat is hiding the deepest sod as it wears the pshat like a form fitting glove and it turns out to be one and the same (“ein mikra yoztie miday pshuto”)!  This is the way of true pshat/sod – two surfaces of one side.  As the Gaon of Vilna taught his disciples, it is impossible to understand the pshat without first understanding the sod.

     In conclusion, it is still possible to say that bnot adam did have an earthly manifestation but the reason the bney elohim were attracted to them specifically would be because they had incarnated the sparks of the spiritually-based feminine bnot adam.  Likewise, the essence of the masculine bney elohim could have manifested as angelic entities that were then drawn after their own kind.  Both modes of residue were aborted and “fell” out into lower realms.  Having concretized into material forms they bred together producing the hybrid mutants known as the nephilim.  In essence, the nephilim still retain the spiritual root of their parents and therefore some sources refer to the bney elohim and the nephilim as one and the same.

III
Extraterrestrials, Aliens and Demons – Return of the Nephilim?

(To be continued)

The Body of Time: A Cosmology of the Jewish Holy Days

Book-Body of Time  (Click on link to open book)