31) \u201cAnd in the eighth day the flesh of his foreskin shall be circumcised.\u201d This commandment to circumcise the circumcision of the holy covenant on the eighth day is a sublime thing, as it is written, \u201cThe counsel of the Lord is with them that fear Him; and His covenant, to make them know it.\u201d He announces the counsel, which is the covenant, to those who are afraid, who fear sin. This is so because the meaning of the holy covenant should not be seen outside of them. And we already learned the meaning of the holy covenant in several other places.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
32) This counsel, which is for eight days, is mandatory for the world, for the whole of the holy nation, as it is written, \u201cAnd in the eighth day the flesh of his foreskin shall be circumcised.\u201d The eighth day is the sign of the holy covenant, the Sefira<\/em> of Yesod<\/em>, which is the eighth among the degrees. If you count the degrees from Hochma<\/em> down, Yesod<\/em> is in the eighth degree, and Keter<\/em> is Ein Sof<\/em> and is not counted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Also, the circumcision of the covenant is to remove the foreskin, the impure serpent from the covenant, the holy Yesod<\/em>. We may ask why is it that once he says that the eighth day is Bina<\/em>, meaning from below upwards, and once he says that the eighth day is Yesod<\/em>, meaning from above downwards. It is so because of the inverse relation between the Kelim<\/em> and the lights, since in the light, the lower enters first and we begin from below; and in the Kelim<\/em>, the upper ones complete first and we begin from above downwards.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 33) This is so because when the holy nation gathers to remove the foreskin from the covenant, the Creator assembles His entire entourage and appears, so as to move the foreskin up from the sign of the holy covenant, which is Yesod<\/em>. All the deeds that Israel do below evoke deeds above. Hence, at that time, the foreskin\u2014the impure serpent\u2014is repelled upwards from the whole of the holy nation. And a vessel with dust is set up for this foreskin, to put the foreskin in it, as it is written, \u201cAnd dust shall be the serpent’s food,\u201d and \u201cDust shall you eat all the days of your life.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n 34) We learn from this that one need not be contemptuous of the foreskin, even though it is removed from the covenant. Its place, after it is removed from this covenant, is in the dust, since after that serpent was removed from man, the Creator set up its dwelling place in the dust, as it is written, \u201cDust shall you eat all the days of your life.\u201d And since the Creator set up its residence in the dust when He removed it from man, when we remove the foreskin, we should set up dust for it to dwell in, in this very way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 35) Every person should gladly and willingly sacrifice that son as an offering to the Creator, to bring him under the wings of Divinity. This is regarded by the Creator as a complete offering and is received willingly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 36) This offering is like an offering from the beast, since this is for eight days, and that is for eight days, as it is written, \u201cBut from the eighth day and thenceforth it may be accepted\u201d because it has already been through one Sabbath, since there has to be one Sabbath among the eight days. And since it has been through one Sabbath, this offering\u2014the beast\u2014is accepted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The circumcised child is for an offering because he was attached and came to be at this Sabbath, which is Malchut<\/em>, the holy covenant\u2014Yesod<\/em>. On Sabbath, the Yesod<\/em> is in its fullest perfection; hence, the child receives illumination from it, to correct his holy covenant. And the beast is accepted as an offering, as well, since the offering unites Yesod<\/em> and Malchut<\/em>. For this reason, it must receive correction from the complete Yesod<\/em> on the day of the Sabbath. Thus, everything is in the upper one.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" 31) \u201cAnd in the eighth day the flesh of his foreskin shall be circumcised.\u201d This commandment to circumcise the circumcision […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":0,"parent":15048,"menu_order":0,"template":"","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}}},"topic":[28],"class_list":["post-15082","book","type-book","status-publish","hentry","topic-zohar"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n