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Parshat Shemini – Zohar, Page 38b Translated and adapted by Mr. Simcha Treister 'And Moses said to Aharon, and to Elazar and to Ithamar, his sons: Do not dishevel your hair, nor tear your clothes, lest you die and lest anger come upon all the people; instead your brothers, the whole house of Israel, will cry over the fire which the Lord has kindled. Furthermore you shall not go out from the door of the Mishkan, lest you die, for the anointing oil of the Lord is upon you.' (Lev. 10,6/7.) Rabbi Abba expressed a general rule to assist in explaining the inner meaning of this commandment, which Aharon and his remaining two sons received after the death of Nadav and Avihu. Every action a person does with proper meditative intention in this world below, causes great effect in the spiritual worlds above, and therefore, the actions that a person does in this world, must show it's proper intention. If there is no proper intention, there is no effect in the spiritual worlds. Come and see, all happiness and arousal of Divine light from Imma/Bina of Atzilut depends on that holy oil, which is the consciousness of the sphira of Abba/Chochma that is drawn into Imma. It is from Imma that joy and blessings flow down to the other sphirot. The higher priest, corresponding to the sphira of Chesed of Zeer Anpin, is crowned with the flowing consciousness (or 'oil') from Abba that flows down from Imma. He receives that abundance first, and because of this, the Cohen (priest) in this world, who has been symbolically anointed with the holy anointing oil in parallel with the higher spiritual worlds, must show joy from the side of Bina, and a shining countenance from the side of Abba. He should not show himself with disheveled hair or torn clothes, which show a lack of meditative joy, because doing so causes damage to the corresponding spiritual sphirot in Zeer Anpin. Disheveled hair, a sign of mourning and lack of concern with the outward appearance of the head, causes a blemish in the three sphirot of consciousness in Zeer Anpin, and torn clothes blemish the seven lower sphirot of Zeer Anpin. The Cohen in this world must be complete in all his physical aspects, in the same manner as the spiritual counterpart he represents. He should not show any blemish at all so as not to cause blemish above. Come and see. If Elazar and Ithamar had shown the traditional signs of mourning for their brothers by tearing their clothes and being of disheveled appearance at that time when they were anointed with the holy oil and dressed in the priestly garments, they would not have been saved from the force of strict judgement that was aroused at that time. Because it was a time when Din was aroused, they had to be especially careful not to give cause for that Din to be aroused against them. From this we learn that at a time when death is aroused in this world a person should be particular not to do anything that might further arouse the aspect of din. An exception is if a person is awakened into the 'action' of a mitzva, because this has the power to push off the immediate damage that the din may cause. Otherwise a person should be careful of his actions, because at a time when that force is aroused in the world, whoever meets it will be collected by it and banished from this world. This is why their instruction concluded with the words 'lest you die'. |
