Tag Archives: Prophecy

Seven Prophetesses of Israel

‘Deborah’ by Gustav Doré

This week’s parasha, Tetzave, continues with the description of the construction of the Mishkan and its holy vessels. The walls of the Mishkan were held up by 48 pillars of acacia wood, plus 7 lintel beams. The Ba’al haTurim (Rabbi Yakov ben Asher, 1269-1343) comments on Exodus 26:15 that the 48 pillars correspond to the 48 male prophets named in Tanakh. The 7 lintels, meanwhile, correspond to the seven generations between Abraham and Moses. This second comment is strange since we would expect the Ba’al haTurim to instead say that the 48 pillars correspond to the 48 male prophets while the 7 lintels correspond to the 7 female prophetess, as enumerated by our Sages. We are taught in the Talmud (Megillah 14a) that the Seven Prophetesses of Israel were Sarah, Miriam, Deborah, Hannah, Abigail, Huldah, and Esther. Of course, there were other female prophetesses in ancient Israel, just as there were many more than 48 male prophets. These 55 are specifically mentioned because we actually have their prophecies recorded, or because they are explicitly referred to as “prophets” in Tanakh (as Miriam is in Exodus 15:20).

The Seven Prophetesses are particularly special because they are sometimes described as being even greater than their male counterparts. For instance, when Abraham turned to God concerned about Sarah’s plans, God told him to listen to Sarah and do as she says (Genesis 21:12). Deborah is described as being greater than Barak, and Hannah more in tune than Eli the kohen gadol. Amazingly, Rav Yitzchak Ginsburgh points out that when the Torah says there will be more great prophets in the future like Moses to lead the people (Deuteronomy 18:15), the gematria of that entire phrase (נָבִיא מִקִּרְבְּךָ מֵאַחֶיךָ כָּמֹנִי יָקִים לְךָ יהוה אֱלֹהֶיךָ אֵלָיו תִּשְׁמָעוּן) is 1839, exactly equal to the value of the names of the Seven Prophetesses! (שָׂרָה מִרְיָם דְּבוֹרָה חַנָּה אֲבִיגַיִל חֻלְדָּה אֶסְתֵּר) That might explain why the 7 lintels lie “above” the 48 pillars, as if implying that the female prophetess were greater than the male ones. What exactly was so great about them?

Sarah’s prophecies ensured that Isaac would inherit the covenant and continue the divine line started by Abraham. Miriam inspired her parents to reunite after their separation, resulting in the birth of Moses. She later guided baby Moses in the river and ensured his survival. There would be no Moses without Miriam! Deborah saved Israel from the cruel subjugation of Sisera, and composed one of history’s ten divine songs. From Hannah we learn how to pray (Berakhot 30b-31b), and Abigail taught us about the afterlife (including terms like kaf hakelah and tzror hachayim). Huldah foresaw the destruction of Judah at the time of King Yoshiyahu (and it is possible this prophecy resulted in the pre-emptive move to save the Ark of the Covenant and hide it for the distant future). Esther saved the Jewish people from near-extinction, and produced one of the 24 books of Tanakh.

The Sefirot of “Mochin” above (in blue) and the Sefirot of the “Middot” below (in red).

We can further parallel the Seven Prophetesses to each of the seven lower Sefirot (as all things seven in Creation are connected, and emerge from the lower Seven). Miriam embodied the waters of Chessed, taking care of her little brother, nurturing him as an infant, and later providing all the Israelites with water in the Wilderness through her miraculous well. It is specifically by the waters of the Red Sea that the Torah calls her a prophetess. Sarah, on the other hand, was Gevurah, representing severity and judgement. She made the tough call to expel Hagar and Ishmael. While Abraham was the man of Chessed, Sarah was clearly his Gevurah counterpart. (In the next generation it was flipped, with Isaac embodying Gevurah and his wife Rebecca representing Chessed—introduced in the Torah as carrying a water jug on her shoulders and kindly providing abundant waters to the camels of Eliezer.) Deborah was the judge and Torah scholar, the greatest halakhic authority of her day, personifying Tiferet, the source of Torah and emet, “truth”.

Abigail taught us about eternal life—the eternity of Netzach. She introduces us to the transmigrations of the soul following death, calling it kaf hakelah, which the Zohar (II, 99b) explains means that the soul is flung from one body to another, from one reincarnation to another, like a stone flung from a sling. The Arizal (Rabbi Itzhak Luria, 1534-1572) gives the same explanation for kaf hakelah in Sha’ar haGilgulgim (Ch. 22). Incredibly, he reveals that Abigail was herself a reincarnation of Leah! (Ch. 36) Her original husband Naval was a reincarnation of Lavan, while David had a spark of Jacob. Just as Jacob worked for Lavan, David worked for Naval. And just as Lavan cheated Jacob out of his wages, Naval did the same to David. The tikkun here was that Jacob did not wish to marry Leah, and she always felt secondary and unloved. This was rectified with Abigail, as David did indeed wish to marry her and gave her the attention she deserved. Nor was there any trick in getting David to marry Abigail, which is what had happened previously with Lavan tricking Jacob into marrying Leah.

Hannah taught us lehodot, to acknowledge Hashem and to be grateful. She sang a majestic prayer-song of thanksgiving. This is, of course, the Sefirah of Hod. The result of her prayers was Samuel, who went on to anoint the first kings of Israel. Huldah foresaw the destruction of Jerusalem and the Kingdom of Judah due to the violation of the covenant, the brit associated with foundational Yesod. She lived in Jerusalem (II Kings 22:14), the place of the “Foundation Stone”, even hashetiyah. In fact, the southern wall of the Temple Mount has an ancient gate referred to as the “Huldah Gate”. Huldah also relayed to King Yoshiyahu that he will be spared destruction and die in peace (II Kings 22:20) because of his genuine teshuvah and rectification of his brit. The Talmud (Megillah 14b) says Huldah was a descendant of Rahav, who had an immoral past and rectified her own sphere of Yesod, meriting to marry Joshua and become the mother of many great prophets and figures, including Jeremiah and Neriah.

Finally, Esther is the embodiment of a queen, the final “feminine” Sefirah of Malkhut. In fact, the word “Malkhut” appears ten times in the Megillah, more than in any other book of Tanakh! And we read in Esther 2:17 that “The king loved Esther more than all the other women… so he set a royal crown [keter malkhut] on her head and made her queen…” Recall the teaching of our Sages that when the Megillah mentions “the king” without a name or qualifier, it can also be read as referring to The King, to Hashem. And so, it is as if God Himself crowned Esther with Malkhut.

In these ways, the seven lower Sefirot parallel the Seven Prophetesses, who attained divine inspiration on the highest levels, and ensured the survival of Israel and Judaism throughout the centuries.

Tefillin: Past, Present, and Future

Vestments of the regular priest and the High Priest (Courtesy: Temple Institute)

This week’s parasha, Pekudei, summarizes all the components and items of the Mishkan. In the second aliyah, we read about the special ephod and choshen, the apron and breastplate of the kohen gadol. The choshen was studded with precious stones engraved with the names of the Tribes of Israel. Behind the choshen were placed the mysterious urim v’tumim. Through these, the Israelites were able to communicate with God. According to one understanding, the Israelites could ask questions, and God would respond by making the letters engraved on the stones light up.

The Zohar (II, 230a-b) on this week’s parasha connects the ephod, choshen, and urim v’tumim with tefillin. This is the secret of when God showed Moses “His back” but not “His face” (Exodus 33:23). On this, the Sages metaphorically state that God showed Moses the knot on the back of His tefillin (Berakhot 7a). Obviously, God does not literally wear tefillin, so the Zohar explains that it really serves to teach us the power of tefillin: Like the ephod, choshen, and urim v’tumim through which the Israelites could divine both past and future, tefillin can give a Jew the same power. The tefillin box that is on the front of the head is likened to the choshen on the front of the kohen, and represents looking ahead into the future. Meanwhile, the knot of the tefillin at the back (in the shape of a letter dalet) corresponds to the ephod covering the back of the kohen, representing the ability to understand the past. (The Zohar adds that the box on the front represents aspaklaria nahara, a “clear lens”, whereas the knot on the back is a murky lens.)

One explanation from our Sages about Moses being shown God’s “back” is that God showed him all of human history up to that point, so that Moses could see how God acted justly and righteously throughout. Everything that happened was brought about by God for a good reason, measure-for-measure. However, the reasons for future events, God’s “face”, were not revealed to Moses. This ties in to another teaching where Moses asked to see Rabbi Akiva and, while God granted him this request and transported Moses into Rabbi Akiva’s classroom, God did not reveal why Rabbi Akiva had to suffer a gruesome death (see ‘Time Travel in the Torah’).

A different explanation is that showing His “back” meant that God revealed to Moses everything from Creation forward (see Malbim on Exodus 33:23). What happened before Creation, God’s “face”, could not be revealed, for no human mind could possibly grasp this and live (Exodus 33:20). This implies that only after death, when the soul is no longer hindered by the body, could it grasp what happened before Creation. Our Sages taught that Moses attained 49 of the 50 Gates of Understanding, Nun Sha’arei Binah, while alive (see Rosh Hashanah 21b or Nedarim 38a). Only following death could he reach the 50th Gate. This is why Moses died on Mount Nebo (נבו), nun-bo, hinting that he finally had all nun levels of understanding “within him”, bo.

A four-pronged Shin on the head tefillin.

Putting it all together, we can see how the head tefillin gives us access to all Fifty Gates of Binah. There is a nice allusion to this in the two letters shin embossed on the box, one mysteriously having four prongs instead of three. The three prongs of a regular shin correspond to the Sefirot of Chessed, Gevurah, and Tiferet (see Sha’ar haPesukim on Shemot). The four prongs of the special shin are the remaining Netzach, Hod, Yesod, and Malkhut. This gives us all seven lower Sefirot from which the 50 Gates are derived: seven times seven (as we do during Sefirat haOmer), plus the fiftieth being Binah above. It is worth noting that elsewhere (III, 254a-b), the Zohar connects the seven prongs of the two tefillin shins—which are shaped like fire—to the seven branches of the Menorah.

We see that the head tefillin is associated specifically with vision. Fittingly, the knot on the back aligns right with the occipital lobe of the brain, which is the visual processing centre. Meanwhile, the box of the tefillin “between the eyes” alludes to the inner “third eye” of the brain, the pineal gland, which bizarrely has photoreceptors like our eyes despite being deep inside the brain. The pineal gland regulates our sleep cycle and makes us dream, releasing a neurotransmitter called DMT which opens the mind up to all kinds of spiritual visions. (DMT is the active ingredient in Ayahuasca and used as both a therapeutic plant medicine and psychedelic drug. For more on the inner third eye in Judaism, see here.)

Based on the above, we can further understand why the Zohar says the box of the head tefillin represents clear vision while the knot at the back represents murky vision: the box (aligning with the pineal) is for tuning in to higher vision and prophecy, for spiritual vision; the knot at the back (aligning with the occipital lobe) is for regular physical vision. And this helps to explain why the box is associated with the future, while the knot is associated with the past. To get glimpses of what’s to come, we have to tap into our inner prophetic eye. But using our physical eyes we have the ability to look back in history and see God’s fingerprints all over the place. As Moses himself advised the people, if you want to find God, just “Remember the days of old, understand past generations…” (Deuteronomy 32:7) Jewish history—millennia of survival against all odds, and inexplicable success, influence, and prosperity at the same time—is perhaps the greatest proof for God’s existence. “Inquire now to the earliest days that came before you, from the day God created man on Earth, and from one end of Heaven to the other, has there ever been such a great thing? Or has anything like this ever been known?” (Deuteronomy 4:32)

So, the head tefillin takes care of past and future. And what of the present? For that we have the arm tefillin, bound specifically to the arm as a sign of action in the here and now, in this world of Asiyah. The arm tefillin is the present. In this way, our tefillin contain past, present, and future. Recall that the knot on the arm tefillin is in the shape of a letter yud, so altogether we have the shin on the head box, the dalet on the head knot, and the yud on the arm knot, spelling “Shaddai”. This is perfect because the divine name Shaddai embodies God’s presence throughout cyclical time—past, present, and future—and the value of “Shaddai” (שדי) is precisely 314, equal to the 3.14 of cyclical π (see here for more on ‘Secrets of Pi’). With this we come full circle, and get another reason for wrapping tefillin in circular fashion, around our heads, down our arms, hands, and fingers—the “Eternal Jew” binding past, present, and future into one.

The War in Israel and How to Help

Perspectives on the sensless catastrophe in Israel – and how these horrific events may tie into ancient Biblical, Talmudic, and Midrashic prophecies – followed by three simple but powerful ways to spiritually assist our brothers and sisters in Israel.