Parshat Emor: Life as the Total Offering to God's Love

The distinction between life and death is underscored again in this portion of the Torah.

"And the Lord said to Moses: Say (emor) to the priests, the sons of Aaron, and say to them: Let none of you defile himself for a dead person among his people." (Leviticus 21:1)

Hence life is the imperative priority for the highest awareness of our connection with God. In this sense life encompasses all the positive attributes and goodness inherent to love as the common essence we share with our Creator and what makes us part of Him.

Love is the covenant, the divine precondition with which we have to handle life and approach the material world. The essence of life is the love with which the Creator made us, and the way to protect life by itself and also in our individual and collective environment. In contrast to life, death represents the opposite of love's ways and attributes.

Again holiness is highlighted as the ways of love, as the means to consecrate life in the material world.

"They [the priests] shall be holy to their God, and they shall not desecrate their God's name, because they offer up the fire offerings of the Lord, the food offering of their God, so they shall be holy." (21:6)

In this context God's name encompasses the holiness of the ways and means to consecrate life.

The highest awareness of our connection with God (represented by the priest) is what elevates our individual human traits and qualities, the food offerings of the Lord, and this awareness is the holiness that attaches us to Him.

"You shall sanctify him [the priest], because he offers up the food offering of your God; he shall be holy to you, because I, the Lord who sanctifies you, am Holy." (21:8)

God's love makes us holy.

"(…) because the crown of his God's anointing oil is upon him. I am the Lord. (21:11-12)

Our mystic sages teach that, in the context of the Hebrew scriptures, oil represents knowledge and awareness of the Creator as the previous stage of enlightenment represented by the burning oil in the lamps of the Tabernacle. 

The verses that emphasize the holiness of our highest awareness of the Creator are juxtaposed to the obvious rejection of any trait or quality separated from its exclusive purpose to be in love's ways and attributes.

"Speak to Aaron, saying: 'Any man among your offspring throughout their generations who has a defect, shall not come near to offer up his God's food'." (21:17)

Hence we have to be whole and complete in our consciousness when we approach our Creator.

In that wholeness and integrity, as the sum of all aspects of consciousness, there are no defects because nothing is missing or inadequate when we consciously lead all dimensions of our life to Him. If we are "blind" with our unwillingness to face the truth, "crippled" to discern right from wrong, "dwarfed" in our approach to tell true from false; we will never be able to embrace God's love because love does not cohabit with anything different from His ways and attributes.

"[An animal that has] blindness, or [a] broken [bone] or [a] split [eyelid or lip], or warts, or dry lesions or weeping sores you shall not offer up these to the Lord, nor shall you place [any] of these as a fire offering upon the altar to the Lord." (22:22)

Therefore we have to offer our perception, honesty, devotion, tenderness, and sensitivity as a whole in their full intention and commitment to become the vessels for God's love, and not in their partial or limited expressions.

This also means that we have to go beyond our physical and physiological limitations, and commit our talents, potentialities and abilities to follow love's ways and attributes because that is the way to consecrate our Creator.

"You shall not desecrate My holy name. I shall be sanctified amid [in] the children of Israel. I am the Lord who sanctifies you." (22:32)

The portion continues with a whole chapter (23) dedicated to the Jewish high holidays.

"Speak to the children of Israel and say to them: The Lord's appointed [holy days] that you shall designate as holy occasions (…)" (23:2)

These in order to periodically renew our closeness to Him, and between them it is reminded again.

"When you reap the harvest of your Land, you shall not completely remove the corner of your field during your harvesting, and you shall not gather up the gleanings of your harvest. You shall leave these for the poor person and for the stranger. I am the Lord, your God." (23:22)

This is referred to our sacred and commanded duty to share the fruits of our individual awareness and connection with God's love with those who are not as close to Him.

We are truly holy when our love touches and elevates others in our quest to create a better world for all. It is our collective mission to create a space for God's love to dwell in the world.

This mission is accomplished when we all keep the light of love lit permanently in who we are and what we do.

"Command the children of Israel, and they shall take to you pure olive oil, crushed for lighting, to kindle the lamps continually." (24:2-4)

Emor ends reiterating our exclusion of all that oppose God's ways, expel it from the camp of our awareness of love, and send it to the nothingness of death from where it came. Death is the field of ego's fantasies and illusions, and love is the field of life when we live it in God's ways and attributes, as He wants us to.

Parshat Kedoshim: Being Part of God's Love

There are meaningful times in the Torah when the Creator "defines" Himself to us. Most of the times it seems enough to read "I am the Lord". When we read that He is holy, we reflect on the Commandments that precede such statement in the Torah.

"Speak to the entire congregation of the children of Israel, and say to them, You shall be holy (kedushim), because I, the Lord your God, am holy." (Leviticus 19:2)

While we read these Commandments in the context of His holiness, let's reflect on some of them in this portion.

"You shall not turn to the idols, nor shall you make molten deities for yourselves. I am the Lord, your God." (19:4)

Idols are ego's materialistic fantasies and illusions we give priority over Love's ways and attributes. Idols and molten deities are some of the translations of terms that originally mean "masks" that hide the real Essence of who we are: Love as our true identity.

Masks as darkness to cover the original Light from which we were created, hence it is us who place darkness over the Light we are. Masks and idols exist because we make them "for ourselves" as the verse says. In this sense we create our individual reality as the reflection of our own creation.

From this individual and also collective reality (because ego's illusions and fantasies are common among people that usually call them glamour, sophistication, class, taste, ideology, belief, tradition, social "values", and other cultural definitions) derive what the Torah calls idols as the root of ideas and feelings of lack that separate us from our true identity.

This eventually leads us to do what separates us from the holiness of Love.

"You shall not steal. You shall not deny falsely. You shall not lie, one man to his fellow." (19:11)

"You shall not swear falsely by My Name, thereby profaning the Name of your God. I am the Lord." (19:12)

As long as we live without the awareness of God's Love as our Creator and sustenance, we all live in lies and that make us thieves because all liars are thieves.

When we are blessed with talents and the potential for acquiring material riches, we must be aware that all we are and have is given by the Love of God. Thus, what we are and have is meant to be shared with others who have less.

This is God's Love's dynamics in order to empower us to create a better world for all, and this is the meaning of the verse...

"And you shall not glean your vineyard, nor shall you collect the individual grapes of your vineyard; you shall leave them for the poor and the stranger. I am the Lord, your God." (19:10)

In this awareness are able to understand the cornerstone Commandment of the Torah.

"You shall neither take revenge from nor bear a grudge against the members of your people; you shall love your neighbor as yourself. I am the Lord." (19:18)

When we ultimately grasp that all in God's Creation is part of His Oneness, we will understand separation as the result of following the idols created by ego's fantasies and illusions. We can conceive and fully experience this Oneness through the awareness of our permanent connection to the Love of the Creator in a time and a space called the Shabbat and the Temple of Jerusalem.

"You shall observe My Shabbats and revere My Sanctuary. I am the Lord." (19:30)

Once we are able to know and experience God's Love as our Essence and true identity, we will fulfill the Commandment that makes us unique because we are part of Him.

"And you shall be holy to Me, because I, the Lord, am holy, and I have distinguished you from the peoples, to be Mine." (20:26)

Parshat Acharei: Living God's Love in the World

In this portion there is a new reference about the death of Aaron's elder sons: "And the Lord spoke to Moses after the death (acharei mot) of Aaron's two sons, when they drew near before the Lord, and they died." (Leviticus 16:1) to remind us about being and manifesting the ways of the Creator, and not our ways when we strive to be close to His Love for the sake of our Oneness with Him.

Our Sages have different opinions about the two sons who brought a "strange fire" to the Sanctuary and died there. They say that, one hand, the two brothers and deputy high priests were indeed bringing their individual versions of what an offering to the Creator should be, and on the other they did it with the ultimate intention of becoming One with Him "no matter what".

Our Sages teach us that the lesson here is to follow God's ways in all aspects of our lives, including how we relate to Him in our individual desire to be close to Him. They also indicate that our lives must be bound to His ways while we are in this material dimension, because here is where He wants us to reveal His Presence. With this reminder we recall the entrance of four of our ancient Sages into the Garden of Eden. One didn't want to return to the world and he left his body, one returned to the world and lost his sanity after realizing the difference between Earth and Heaven, one rejected any possible human wisdom and became a hermit, and one returned as if nothing had happened. The latter is referred as Rabbi Akiva from whom it is said that "he entered into Heaven in peace and returned to Earth in peace".

We must learn from Aaron's sons and Rabbi Akiva's visit to Heaven that we are meant to live our life in this world and not in a different dimension. We have said that the Divine Presence is already revealed in other dimensions that we call Heaven, Paradise, and other realities far beyond our mind. If we live in those there is no point to reveal or transform anything because everything there exists in its own perfection. It is in this material world where we are summoned by the Creator to fully reveal His Presence concealed under the darkness of our materialistic and egotistic approach to life. Hence, it is in this darkness that we must be and manifest Love's ways and attributes as the Light that dissipates the negative aspects of our consciousness that prevent us to live in the Love of God.

The parshah continues with the preparation of the High Priest for the Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur). We have said that the clear discernment of our intention to be close to the Creator is what ultimately transforms (atones for) all aspects of our consciousness. This discernment makes a difference between two realities: "And Aaron shall place lots upon the two male goats: one lot 'For the Lord', and the other lot 'For Azazel'." (16:8). One representing the elevation of all dimensions of consciousness in order to be transformed by God's Love with the purpose to be and manifest His ways and attributes; and the other, all the negative expressions of our existence that must descend to the depths of nothingness (into the desert) from where they came: "The male goat shall thus carry upon itself all their sins to a precipitous land, and he [the carrier] shall send off the male goat into the desert." (16:22).

From this we learn that ego's (the male goat) materialistic fantasies and illusions (the sins) belong to the realm of nothingness, because they come from there and must return there. On the other hand, our dedication and devotion to Love's ways and attributes, and redirecting our existence in them, are the means to elevate us to the realm of the absolute Truth that God is. Our oral tradition tells us about Azazel as one of the two fallen angels during the times of Enoch, who taught women how to attract men by using make-up. One lower desire triggered by ego's illusion to possess and control, reinforced by another illusion called make-up.

Our offerings to elevate every aspect of consciousness to God's Love must take place exclusively into the Sanctuary (17:3-4) because it is there where we are completely aware of our connection to God. Any other place represents the lower dimensions that keep us separate from Him and therefore "cut off": "And they shall no longer slaughter their sacrifices to the satyrs after which they stray. This shall be an eternal statute for them throughout their generations." (17:7).

Later in the portion there is a new warning about not falling in the lower traits and desires that potentially lead to negative behavior: "Like the practice of the land of Egypt, in which you dwelt, you shall not do, and like the practice of the land of Canaan, to which I am bringing you, you shall not do, and you shall not follow their statutes." (18:3). This is remarked by the repeated statement that we are created by God's Love, and it must be in Love's ways and attributes that we must conduct our lives: "You shall fulfill My ordinances and observe My statutes, to follow them. I am the Lord, your God. You shall observe My statutes and My ordinances, which a man shall do and live by them. I am the Lord." (18:4-5).

The portion ends with a reiterated emphasis (18:24-20) warning us that when we defile our consciousness by living under the rule of lower thoughts, emotions, passions and instincts, we expel ourselves of the unity that Love's ways and attributes are as the Promised Land that God's Love gives for us to proclaim His Glory in this world, "because He is the Lord our God".

Parshat Metzora: Embracing the Purity of Divine Love

"This shall be the law of the metzora on the day of his purification: He shall be brought to the Priest." (Leviticus 14:2). Our Sages explain that the metzora is a person afflicted by tzaraat, usually translated as leprosy but they describe it a skin condition that appeared as a result of gossip and slander. They conclude that tzaraat was a Divine signal to make the slanderer aware of the gravity of negative talk as a result of haughtiness or arrogance that separates us from the unity that Israel must maintain.

Although in present times we are not afflicted by skin problems due to evil speech, we must be aware of our separation from others when ego's agenda is prevalent in the way we relate to them. The Priest, as the highest awareness of our connection with God, is who brings back the gossiper from is ego trip to the unifying power of Love's ways and attributes. Love is our common Essence that keeps us united as we care for each other, protect each other, and lead each other toward our mission to reveal the Divine Presence in the material world as well as in the entire Creation.

We must go beyond the shallowness of the lower aspects of consciousness and make them subservient of the higher purpose that Love, as our true Essence and identity, requires from us amid the limitations, obstacles and challenges we face in the material reality. We are limited to exist within the boundaries imposed by the laws of nature, the challenges posed by natural disasters, and the obstacles that they may become when our survival and well being are in peril. In this predicament things get worse when we don't act as the care takers of each other. Selfishness destroys the ultimate individual and collective well being that Love compels us to achieve.

We face natural disasters not as individuals but as the collective unity that we must be. We also must be united to overcome the social and economical turmoil caused by tyranny and despotism as two among other destructive expressions of the lower aspects of human consciousness. Repression, discrimination, bigotry, corruption, oppression, and their synonyms derive from arrogance and haughtiness as ego's illusions to feel superior and become a petty god who wants to control not just other people's lives and destiny but also the laws of nature.

The parshah continues with the cleansing and atonement of the slanderer, and later juxtaposes the male seminal discharge with the menstrual period of women as both impure states that need to be ritually cleansed. The common denominator of both seminal discharge and feminine blood discharge is the death of the seeds of potential life. In this sense human life is exalted as the highest expression of Creation, hence it must be valued and respected to the point that losing our potential to generate life (seminal discharge and menstrual discharge) makes us unclean.

There is an implicit lesson to learn from the laws regarding these situations and it is not only about being life but also being bearers of life. We learn from this that we can remain clean and pure before our Creator when we choose the blessings of life over the curses of death, as He commands us. Life is the encompassing principle and vessel of Love's ways and attributes to be manifested in the world, while death is the expression of negative traits derived from ego's materialistic fantasies and illusions.

We become impure and unclean when we deal with any kind of thoughts, ideologies or beliefs that engender negative results that ultimately lead to death as the negation of Love's ways and attributes. Israel is chosen to champion Love as the revealed Divine Presence in the world, and the portion ends with a reminder of this as part of our Covenant with the Creator: "You shall separate the children of Israel from their contamination, and they shall not die as a result of their contamination if they contaminate My Tabernacle that is among them." (15:31).

The Tabernacle represents the permanent awareness of the Divine Presence in our lives as long as we keep ourselves separated from the unclean and impure expressions derived from the death represented by all that can't coexist with Love's ways and attributes. In this portion the Torah reminds us again that arrogance is the root of the negative illusions that ego makes us believe and revere as the idols that pretend to deny the Love of the Creator as the One and only Essence and sustenance of all Creation including us.

Parshat Tazria: Living in God's Covenant

This week's portion teaches us about purity before our Creator. "Speak unto the children of Israel, saying: If a woman conceives (tazria), and gives birth to a male, she shall be unclean seven days; as in the separation (nidah) days of her period shall she be unclean." (Leviticus 12:2) and it starts from the moment that we are born. Our Sages say that a new born is delivered by his/her mother in a state of impurity because she suffers during the process.

With this we understand that life must start with a much better beginning. Life is not perfect as long as we have to choose between right and wrong, true and false, positive and negative, amid the ambiguities of illusion and Truth. We can rephrase this thought saying that life is perfect as long as we choose the Truth represented by Love's ways and attributes over ego's materialistic fantasies and illusions. In this context purity is related to what the Creator wants from us in order to be united with Him.

The Torah frequently mentions that we must be holy because God is holy, and we infer from this that we are holy because we are part of His Creation. Then we must reach out to Him, to His ways and attributes, for us to know the Essence of our true identity which is His Love, the purity of what makes us holy before Him. The first verse of this portion is followed by "And in the eighth day the flesh of his foreskin shall be circumcised." (12:3) referring to the new born with the purpose to seal in the flesh the Pact between Israel and the Creator. For the Jewish people this is the true beginning of life in the material world. The Pact is the beginning of life by removing what is not needed to be carried in our consciousness: the "foreskin" as the attachment to the potentially negative aspects of our basic human nature.

Circumcision becomes our unconditional and even unconscious response to the alliance that God's Love gives us to fulfill the partnership that He offers us in His Creation. We call it even unconscious because we accept the Pact when we still are not completely aware of our existence in this world. Hence it is a Pact beyond comprehension, beyond the material manifestation of God's Creation represented by the eight day of life.

This Pact is the fulfillment of the eternal unity of Israel and the Creator, a unity that can't be grasped and at the same time is a reminder in our flesh of our commitment to fulfill His ways with the holiness that He wants us to be aware of who we truly are. We have to understand holiness as a practical perception of God's Love in our lives where His ways and attributes must direct every aspect and dimension of consciousness.

It is in this day-to-day reality that we have to be loyal, to be pure with His ways and thus we are warned again not to fall into negative traits that force our separation from Him: "When a man shall have in the skin of his flesh a rising, or a scab, or a bright spot, and it become in the skin of his flesh the plague of leprosy, then he shall be brought unto Aaron the priest (…)" (13:2). Our Sages (Talmud, Arachin 15b and 16a) refer to what has been translated as "leprosy" as a sign of negative behavior such as arrogance, murder, perjury, slander, sexual immorality, stinginess, and robbery, analogous to the seven nations that Israel had to conquer in order to settle in the Promised Land.

These, as well as any other negative expression of human consciousness, separate us from Love's ways and attributes: "All the days wherein the plague is in him he shall be unclean; he is unclean; [therefore] he shall dwell alone; without [outside] the camp shall his dwelling be." (13:46) and in order to return to God's ways we must transform all expressions of negativity through His fire, His transmuting Love, into goodness: "And he shall burn the garment, or the warp, or the woof, whether it be of wool or of linen, or anything of skin, wherein the plague is; for it is a malignant leprosy; it shall be burnt in the fire." (13:52).

As we mentioned above, nothing is perfect in the material world except the Essence with which it was created, God's Love. Through Love we are able to transform and transmute the imperfections that we perceive as negativity in what we call pain, suffering, depression, sadness, indifference, and so on. As long as we let Love lead every aspect of our life, only Love will be because Love is its cause and its effect.

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 Tzav: The Permanent Fire of God's Love

In Tzav the offerings in the Sanctuary are detailed as well as the service of the priests (kohanim): "And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying 'Command (Tzav) Aaron and his sons, saying, "This is the law of the burnt offering: That is the burnt offering which burns on the altar all night until morning, and the fire of the altar shall burn with it"." (Leviticus 6:1-2) and it is also emphasized that the fire in the altar must be lit all the time: "And the fire on the altar shall burn on it; it shall not go out. A continuous fire shall burn upon the altar; it shall not go out." (6:5-6).

We mentioned that the offerings of "sacrifices" that we bring to our Creator in the Sanctuary represent every trait and quality of the different dimensions of consciousness. These include not just our thoughts, feelings, emotions, passions and instincts, but also our desires and the intentions behind them.

Every aspect of our individual identity must be consecrated to the Creator simply because we are His Creation and He sustains us constantly in the material reality that He created for us. Let's insist and reiterate that we are here because of His Love, and His Love is our own Essence. Hence, the offerings are the ways we relate and communicate with His Love, and ultimately to become united to Him. The permanent awareness of our connection to Him (represented by Aaron, the High Priest) is our means to achieve this unification.

In a practical sense our offerings make us maintain this awareness all the time. Our Love (the "burning fire") and God's Love (the "Heavenly fire") must be lit together in order to realize that we are His image and likeness. We realize this awareness when we know that God's Love is always with us, as we praise in our daily prayers' modim (we thank): "(…) We shall thank You and relate Your praise (evening, morning, and afternoon) for our lives, which are committed to Your power and for our souls that are entrusted to You" because our existence and all existence emanate from Him and are sustained by Him; "for Your miracles that are with us every day, and for Your wonders and favors in every season" and we have to be aware of this (the burning fire) permanently. "The Beneficent One, because Your compassion is never exhausted; and the Compassionate One, because Your loving kindnesses never ended, always have we put our hope in You.", the always good and kind Love of God that we praise when we guide every dimension of our consciousness with His Love. And let's be aware that this praise is not just with our words but with our actions.

This thanksgiving prayer is reaffirmed by our Sages: "the God of all flesh, our Molder, the Molder of the universe", because we are His Creation. Therefore, "Blessings and thanks are due Your great and holy Name because You have given us life and sustained us. So may You continue to give us life and sustain us and gather our exiles to the Courtyards of Your Sanctuary, to observe Your decrees, to do Your will and serve You wholeheartedly."

Let's understand that the exiles are not only our fellow Jews who live far from the Promised Land but also the traits and qualities of our consciousness that we have to integrate in the unity that the Tabernacle symbolizes as our permanent connection to God's Love. His Love empowers us to follow His ways and attributes (His "decrees") which are the means to serve Him with all our heart.

The permanent awareness of our connection with God (represented by the High Priest) is what blesses us, as it is written: "Thus shall you bless the people of Israel. Say to them: 'The Lord bless you and keep you, the Lord shine His face to you and be gracious to you. The Lord turn His face to you and grant you peace. So shall they put My Name upon the children of Israel, and I will bless them.' (Numbers 6:24-27).

These are the blessings of His Love because it is about His Love for us. As we said earlier, this portion relates to our offerings and particularly about the means to elevate our life in order to be unified with the Creator. Our intellect gives us the knowledge of Him through a clear notion of the Truth that sustains the Creation. The intellect and the knowledge that provide for our understanding are represented by Moses, our teacher.

"And Moses took some of the anointing oil and some of the blood that was on the altar, and he sprinkled it on Aaron and on his garments, and on his sons, and on his sons' garments, and he sanctified Aaron, his garments, his sons and his sons' garments with him." (Leviticus 8:30). The oil symbolizes our awareness of God's Love, and the blood represents the passion with which we live His Love in the material world. Both must be impregnated in our garments that represent every dimension of our consciousness. The portion ends highlighting this fact: "And Aaron and his sons did all the things that the Lord commanded through Moses." (8:36).

The haftarah for this portion reminds us this awareness: "And this thing I commanded them, saying: 'Hearken to My voice, so that I am your God and you are My people; and walk you in all the ways that I command you, so that it may be well with you'." (Jeremiah 7:23) which is the main message of the Hebrew Scriptures.

In the knowledge of the Creator and in our connection with His Love we are truly fulfilled in the material world: "Thus says the Lord: Let not the wise man boast of his wisdom, neither let the mighty man boast in his might, let not the rich man boast in his riches; but let him that boast exult in this, that he understands and knows Me, that I am the Lord who practices living kindness, justice, and righteousness on the Earth; for in these things I delight, says the Lord." (9:22-23) and these things come from God's Love.