Excerpts from Garments of Light, Volume Two

Introduction from the Book

אָדָם הָרִאשׁוֹן אוֹמֵר לְמשֶׁה אֲנִי גָּדוֹל מִמְּךָ שֶׁנִּבְרֵאתִי בְּצַלְּמוֹ שֶׁל הַקָּדוֹשׁ בָּרוּךְ הוּא… אוֹמֵר לוֹ משֶׁה אֲנִי נִתְעַלֵּיתִי יוֹתֵר מִמְּךָ, אַתָּה כָּבוֹד שֶׁנִּתַּן לְךָ נִטַּל מִמְּךָ… אֲבָל אֲנִי זִיו הַפָּנִים שֶׁנָּתַן לִי הַקָּדוֹשׁ בָּרוּךְ הוּא, עִמִּי הוּא…

Adam said to Moses: “I am greater than you as I was created in the image of the Holy One, blessed be He…” Moses replied: “I surpassed you, since the honour that was given to you has been taken away… as for me, the facial glow that the Holy One, blessed be He, gave me is still with me…”

   – Midrash Devarim Rabbah 11:3

Adam and Eve were created in God’s Image, with a divine glow that our Sages described as “garments of light”. They were meant to consume from the Tree of Life, meriting eternity in a perfect world. Instead, they partook of the Forbidden Fruit and immediately lost that divine glow.

When Moses descended from his sojourn on Mt. Sinai, the Torah tells us that “the skin of his face sent forth rays [of light]” (Exodus 34:30). Moses had restored the divine glow lost by Adam. And he brought with him the Torah, “a Tree of Life for those who grasp it” (Proverbs 3:18). By observing the Torah, we are able to fulfil what Adam couldn’t—consuming from the Tree of Life to merit eternity in a perfect world.

Yet, many of the Torah’s mitzvot are currently unobservable. The only way to fulfil those precepts is by studying them. By plunging into the infinite depths of God’s Word and unravelling its shivi’im panim, “seventy faces”, we can uncover the entire Tree of Life and the divine glow within. The following seventy essays on the weekly parasha and holidays aim to uncover a little bit of that glow.

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Contents

Genesis

Beresheet

  1. Sefer Yetzirah and the 32 Paths of Creation
  2. Reversing the Curses of Eden

Noach

3. Shabbat or Shabbos: What’s the Correct Pronunciation?

Lech Lecha

  1. The Kabbalah of Bar Mitzvah

Vayera

  1. Three Practical Lessons from Abraham
  2. The Shocking Opinion that the Akedah Never Happened

Chayei Sarah

  1. Is Your Brain a Quantum Computer?

Toldot

  1. How Esau Became Rome

Vayetze

  1. The Unusual Connection Between Jacob, Issachar, and Rabbi Akiva

Vayishlach

  1. What it Really Means to be “Israel”

Vayeshev

  1. Joseph, Tamar, and Mashiach’s Kingdom

Miketz

  1. What Do Your Dreams Mean?

Vayigash

  1. The Letter of Creation

Vayechi

  1. The Origins of Me’arat HaMakhpelah, Cave of the Patriarchs
  2. Mashiach and the Mysterious 13th Zodiac Sign

Exodus

Shemot

  1. The Names of the Torah’s Hidden Women

Va’era

  1. The Kabbalah of Moses’ Divine Staff

Bo

  1. How Long Were the Israelites Actually in Egypt?

Beshalach

  1. Red Sea or Reed Sea: Where is Mount Sinai?

Yitro

  1. The One Commandment of the Torah

Mishpatim

  1. Eye for an Eye: Abraham and Hammurabi

Terumah

  1. The Guardian Angels and Hybrid Beasts Known as Cherubs

Tetzave

  1. Should You Wear a Red String on Your Wrist?

Ki Tisa

  1. The Priests and the Aftermath of the Golden Calf

Vayak’hel-Pekudei

  1. “Shalom Aleichem”: To Sing or Not to Sing?
  2. Hidden Symbolism of the Mishkan and the 39 Melakhot of Shabbat

Leviticus

Vayikra

  1. Why Did the Levites Become Priests?

Tzav

  1. The Torah’s Missing Verses

Shemini

  1. Pig Gelatin and Synthetic Pork: Kosher?

Tazria-Metzora

  1. Do Men Have More Mitzvot Than Women?

Acharei-Kedoshim

  1. Will There be Sacrifices in the Third Temple?
  2. The Mysterious Custom of Upsherin

Emor

  1. The 24 Ornaments of a Bride

Behar-Bechukotai

  1. Is Mount Sinai Really a Mountain?
  2. Eye-Openers from the Book of Jubilees

Numbers

Bamidbar

  1. Stages of Life According to the Sefirot

Nasso

  1. Understanding Yourself Through the Letters of Your Name

Beha’alotkha

  1. How Many Books are in the Torah?

Shlach

  1. The Secret Power of Tzitzit

Korach

  1. The Difference Between “Jew” and “Hebrew”

Chukat

  1. Red Cow: Quantum Physics in the Torah

Balak

  1. Deciphering Bilaam’s End of Days Prophecy

Pinchas

  1. The Secret History of the Holy Temple

Matot-Massei

  1. Why Immerse Dishes in a Mikveh?
  2. The Jewish View on Cards and Gambling

Deuteronomy

Devarim

46. Giants and Aliens in the Torah

Va’etchanan

47. Why is Judaism Matrilineal?

Ekev

48. Why Physical Labour is a Spiritual Necessity

Re’eh

  1. Are Tattoos Really Forbidden?

Shoftim

50. Mysteries of the Twelve Tribes and the Borders of Israel

Ki Tetze

51. Does the Torah Punish a Rapist?

Ki Tavo

52. Why is Honey Kosher if it Comes from Non-Kosher Insects?

Nitzavim-Vayelekh

53. Three Reasons to be Religious

Ha’azinu

54. Archaeological Proof for the Torah

V’Zot HaBerakhah

55. How the Torah Alluded to Christianity and Islam

Holidays

Rosh Hashanah

  1. Rosh Hashanah and the Coming of Mashiach

Yom Kippur

57. The Ten Martyrs & the Message of Yom Kippur

Sukkot

  1. A Deeper Look at the Ushpizin of Sukkot
  2. The Year When Sukkot Was 14 Days Long & Everyone Ate on Yom Kippur

Chanukah

60. Chanukah and the Light of Creation
61. When Jews and Greeks Were Brothers: The Untold Story of Chanukah

Purim

  1. The Secret Behind Wearing Masks and Getting Drunk

Pesach

63. Secrets of the Pesach Seder Plate
64. The Seventh Day of Pesach: What is Freedom?

Shavuot

  1. An In-Depth Look at Eating Dairy on Shavuot

More Holidays

  1. Tzom Gedaliah: Mystical Secrets of Fasting
  2. The Forgotten Reason for Fasting on the Tenth of Tevet
  3. The Secret Connection Between Tu b’Shevat and Tu b’Av
  4. Seventeeth of Tammuz: How Moses Smashed the Two Temples
  5. Yom Ha’Atzmaut: Uniting the Secular and the Religious

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