Shemini: Sanctifying our Connection with the Creator

We have learned that the preparation of the Sanctuary, the High Priest and the offerings are the means to be close to the Creator.

“This is it that which the Lord spoke, saying: 'I will be sanctified in those who are close to Me, and before all the people I will be glorified'." (Leviticus 10:3)

By directing all dimensions of consciousness (“all the people”) in Love's ways and attributes, God's Love will also be glorified because we will see Him manifest in all dimensions of His Creation. Let's reflect on the meaning of sanctifying and glorifying Him.

The psalmist helps us understand them through what he refers to as praising. King David's psalms (praises) explain that we do it by following God's ways and emulating His attributes which are His Love for His Creation.

We do it in our total freedom from ego's fantasies and illusions (“the nations”), and he also reminds us that we have to do it with all aspects, levels and dimensions of consciousness.

“Praise the Lord from the earth [our material life], great sea creatures and all [that lives in the] depths [the lower levels of consciousness], fire and hail [passion and passivity], snow and vapor [coldness and warmth], stormy winds that do His bidding [liberating thoughts], mountains and all hills [beliefs and ideas], fruit trees and all cedars [ways of truth and principles of righteousness], beasts and all cattle [instincts and passions], creeping creatures and winged fowl [lower passions and lifting thoughts], kings of the earth [habits and customs] and all peoples [lower emotions and feelings], princes [pride, ego's control] and all judges of the Earth [ethical and moral principles], both young men [avidity, intensity] and maidens [purity and modesty], old men [experience and wisdom] and children [innocence and reverence]. Let them [all] praise [give honor, make offering, be and express the Love of God] the Name of the Lord, for His Name alone is exalted; His Glory is above the Earth and the Heavens.” (Psalms 148:7-13)

Everything that exists emanates from Him and is sustained by God.

In terms of our consciousness, all its aspects that drive us to discern, think, feel, sense and act must be directed and guided to live God's Love in us and in all that He created for us to experience. We already know that what we perceive as “negative” aspects of His Creation -- those in which His Presence is not revealed to us --, exist as contrasting references for us to pursue the positive. As we learn about its goodness we prepare to transform the negative into positive.

This is the way we reveal God's Presence in the material world. Let's bear in mind and heart that the world exists for us to reveal the Presence of its Creator, and we do it only by being and manifesting His Love and the goodness of His ways and attributes.

We sanctify and glorify His Name by being and manifesting our true Essence and identity that is nothing less than His Love, and this is the way we elevate our life to be close to Him. In this process we fully experience His Glory, which is His Love.

“And Moses said: 'This is the thing that the Lord commanded you to do; and the Glory of the Lord shall appear to you'.” (Leviticus 9:6)

The narrative of Shemini continues making us aware that this process implies our clear awareness of the difference between ego's fantasies and illusions and Love's ways and attributes.

“And that you differentiate between holy and the profane, and between the unclean and the clean; and that you [Aaron] instruct the children of Israel all the statutes which the Lord has spoken to them by the hand of Moses.” (10:10-11)

The one who does it is Aaron the High Priest, the highest awareness of our connection with God's Love through Moses, the highest knowledge of the Creator. Let's be aware that the consciousness represented by Moses is our means to learn the ways and attributes to be always close to God and His Love (see our commentaries on Shemini: “Being Holy as Love” on April 2, 2010 and “Being Truthful in our Closeness to God's Love” on March 20, 2011 in this blog).

Nachmanides, the Ramban, tells us that some of the unclean animals forbidden by the Torah for consumption are predators and their qualities are a negative influence for us. We can't imagine ourselves behaving like snakes, scorpions, ravens, vultures or wild bests, though we know that there are people like them.

Our Prophets and Sages say that in the times of our Final Redemption every tree will bear fruit and all beasts will behave peacefully and lovingly, because the root of all evil will be completely eradicated from the face of the earth.

We have said many times that the Messianic consciousness is something that we have to generate, as our forefathers did under bondage in Egypt. They cried out laud for their Redemption, and our God heard and liberated them with the redeeming strength of His hand, the infinite power of His Love.

Some believe that our Final Redemption will come miraculously without us moving one finger to make it happen. They must learn from our history and the Holocaust in which the Jewish people were close to be annihilated. Almost nobody moved one finger to prevent it, and we now know what to do in order to never let it happen again, never again.

It's a lesson that cost more than six million lives to learn, and this means that we have to do more than moving one finger. The easiest thing to do is to blame God after we avoid our responsibilities and our part of the Covenant that He offered us through our forefathers. Even worse when we blame Him for the results of the choices we make! We claim and argue that our real freedom lies in our complete free will, and when evil appears in order for us to exercise free will we end up making negatives choices with their consequences... and again we blame God.

It's about time to realize that if we really desire our Final Redemption from all evil and negativity, we better start making the right choices and being aware of the positive effects that await us when we choose Love's ways and attributes. After all, Love is our true Essence and identity because we all come from God's Love.

Let's begin our Redemption by bringing to Him our offerings, our Love in what we are and do.

“(...) ascribe unto the Lord glory and strength. Ascribe unto the Lord the glory due unto His Name; bring an offering, and come before Him; worship the Lord in the radiance of holiness. Vibrate before Him, all the Earth; the world also is established that it cannot be moved. Let the Heavens be glad, and let the Earth rejoice; and let them say among the nations: 'The Lord reigns'.” (I Chronicles 16:28-31)

Once we recognize and learn His ways and attributes, may we bring to Him their works in what we are and do. In this awareness, may all aspects of our consciousness recognize that His Love rules His Creation. In the firmness of our Love may we meet His Love.

The psalmist also warns us about the consequences of our choices.

“But My people would not listen to Me; and Israel did not consent to Me. So I gave them over to their stubborn hearts to follow their own counsels. If My people would only listen to Me, if Israel would only follow My ways, how quickly I would subdue their enemies and turn My hand against their foes!” (Psalms 81:11-14)

Let's listen again to God's Love, and through our own Love let's defeat the negative predicament in ego's materialistic fantasies and illusions. In the Light of Love may we awake to our individual and collective Redemption, and in God's Love may we fully reveal His Presence in the material world. Then we may we say “The Lord reigns!”

Parshat Shemini: Being Truthful in our Closeness to God's Love

"And it was on the eighth (shemini) day, that Moses summoned Aaron and his sons, and the elders of Israel." (Leviticus 9:1)

That was the day that the Divine Presence chose to appear to the people after the heads of the tribes brought their offerings to the sanctuary.

"And they (the priests) took what Moses had commanded to the front of the tent of meeting, and the entire community approached and stood before the Lord. And Moses said: 'This is the thing which God commanded you to do; and the glory of God shall appear to you'." (9:5-6)

The commandment is to bring the offerings (to elevate all aspects and dimensions of consciousness to be closer to the Creator) to be united to God's love, His glory.

"(…) and the glory of the Lord appeared to all the people. And fire went forth from before the Lord and consumed the burnt offering and the fats upon the altar; and the entire people saw, sang praises, and fell upon their faces." (9:23-24)

"And Aaron's sons, Nadab and Avihu, each took his pan, put fire in them, and placed incense upon it; and they brought before the Lord an alien fire, which He had not commanded them. And fire went forth from before the Lord and consumed them, and they died before the Lord." (10:1-2)

Some of our sages say that Nadab and Avihu decided to make their individual offerings in their own way, meaning in an egocentric attitude which was not appropriate. From this episode we learn that every trait and quality we offer to the service of the Creator must be guided according to His ways, and not by our own individual version of how it "should" be.

In the same way that God's love is unconditional in regards to the sustenance of His creation, we also must be willing to elevate our entire life to His love without strings attached or ego's agenda. Our love for God must be unconditional as it was manifest by our patriarchs.

There is nothing "personal" or particular in the way we elevate our lives to God, except for us to include all levels (lower and higher) of consciousness in our true desire to be close to His love.

"Then Moses said to Aaron, 'this is what the Lord spoke, "I will be sanctified through those near to Me, and before all the people I will be glorified"." (10:3)

In this context "all the people" also represent all aspects, traits, qualities, and dimensions or our life aimed to manifest (glorify) God's love.

This warning also excludes altering our consciousness with something that is not our sober and clear perception when we want to be together with our Creator.

"Do not drink wine that will lead to intoxication, neither you nor your sons with you, when you go into the tent of meeting, so that you shall not die. [This is] An eternal statute for your generations." (10:9)

By being sober in our perception and awareness we are able "to distinguish between holy and profane, and between unclean and clean." (10:10)

Then it is quite clear that any artificial means to alter our consciousness in order to be close to the Creator is as unacceptable as ego's fantasies and illusions as the motivations to do so. We have to live with the truth for our own sake and the sake of others, and even more truthful regarding our desire to embrace God's love.

We are summoned to live according to His ways and attributes, and that includes what we think, feel, sense and do, and also what we eat. This previous message is consequently juxtaposed to the following verse.

"Speak to the children of Israel, saying: These are the creatures that you may eat among all the animals on Earth (…)" (11:2)

Our sages teach that the act of eating also must be approached with a moral purpose, thus warning us about animals that reflect traits that we must avoid such as predators and creeping species.

"You shall not make yourselves abominable with any creeping creature that creeps, and you shall not defile yourselves with them, that you should become unclean through them. For I am the Lord your God, and you shall sanctify yourselves and be holy, because I am holy, and you shall not defile yourselves through any creeping creature that crawls on the ground." (11:43-44)

The parshah ends reminding us again to have a sharp discernment when we approach the material world.

"(...) to distinguish between the unclean and the clean, and between the animal that may be eaten and the animal that may not be eaten." (11:47)

In an analogical way it is the same approach when we have to choose between ego's illusions and fantasies, and love's ways and attributes. Either a materialistic and egocentric way of life or living a life in the truth of God's love.

Parshat Shemini: Being Holy as God's Love

After the first sacrifices were offered in the altar of the Mishkan [Tabernacle], Moses and Aaron “blessed the people, and the Glory of God appeared [was seen] to [on] all the people.” (Leviticus 9:23).

The Hebrew verb translated as “appeared” means originally “shall see” or “seen”, which is the term used in the Mishnah for the three pilgrimages to Jerusalem (Pesach, Shavuot and Succot) to “see” God. The Hebrew preposition in the text is not “to” but usually translated as “over” or “on”, hence the verse must be understood as saying that after we elevate our lower nature (symbolized by the animals burned [transformed] by God's fire in the altar) to serve the Creator and fulfill His will, we will see His Glory, His Majesty on us, in our consciousness.

“Through them that are close to Me, I will be sanctified, and before all the people I will be glorified.” (10:4)

This closeness is our permanent awareness that Love is guiding all aspects of our consciousness. For this we have to “put difference between the holy and the mundane, and between the unclean and the clean.” (10:10)

We know that we are vessels that are sustained and nurtured by God's Love. And we are not one single vessel, but many vessels because we have a multidimensional consciousness that encompasses intellect, mind, emotions, feelings, passions and instincts. These are the vessels that we must fill with God's Commandments.

“(...) whatsoever vessel it be, wherewith any work is done, it must be put into water, and it shall be unclean until the evening; then shall it be clean.” (11:32)

In Judaism the four elements that sustain life have extensive functions and meanings. Water and fire have cleansing attributes among other qualities and purposes. In the text water is the means to cleanse ourselves as the earthly vessels we are.

Our Sages refer to the Torah as the living water that purifies us from the dirt of materialism and the illusions of darkness. Water also represents humility, because it always bows to earth by gravity. It means not just the action of cleansing but also making anew, and clearing the space to allow our bodies to be filled again with God's Love in order to do Divine Service.

In order to keep our lives (all levels of consciousness) clean, the Creator commands us not to eat certain animals due to their predatory or inferior nature. Therefore we not only sacrifice the negative traits and behavior represented by certain animals, but we also must avoid the consumption of those that reflect the lowest qualities that we don't want into our consciousness.

“You shall not make yourselves detestable with any swarming thing that swarms, neither shall you make yourselves unclean with them, that you should be defiled thereby.” (10:43)

“Because I am the Lord your God, sanctify yourselves therefore, and you be holy because I am Holy; neither shall you defile yourselves with any manner of swarming thing that moves upon the earth.” (10:44)

Holiness is remarked again.

“Because I am the Lord that brought you up out of the land of Egypt, to be your God; you shall therefore be holy, for I am Holy.” (10:45)

The parshah ends reiterating the same principle.

“(...) to put difference between the unclean and the clean, and between the living thing that may be eaten and the living thing that may not be eaten.” (10:47)

Here God's Love reminds us several things.

First, God is our Creator that delivers us up from the bondage of the negative illusions of the material world (Egypt). He commands us to be aware that His holiness is our holiness, His Love our Love.

If we want to be aware of that we have to make a difference between those beliefs, thoughts, emotions, passions and actions that keep us close to Him; and those traits that separate us from Him, represented by the cruel and predatory qualities of the unclean animals listed in the Torah.

In every moment we must choose between embracing God’s ways and attributes, and the illusions of ego’s materialistic fantasies and illusions.