LIST975e (C) Dr Hendel, Jan-03
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#2 in a series of 5
Gn01 in general refers to the creation of prophecy. The
creation acts mentioned in the first few days refer to making
someone a fine person(Being a fine person is a prerequisite
to becoming a prophet) To make this clear we suppose we deal
with a person who is overinvolved in physical pleasure. We
describe 8 stages by which this person is transformed into
someone respectable.
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RASHI
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STAGE OF LIFE
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SYMBOL
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Gn01-02
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Only physical pleasures
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water*1
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Gn01-02e
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Aware of need for spiritual
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Hovering wind*2
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Gn01-03
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Inner world of dreams
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Light*3
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Gn01-06a
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Spirit-Physical split
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Sky*4
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Gn01-06b
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Mundane:Physical/spiritual
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2 types of waters*5
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Gn01-07a
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Integrate spiritual into lifestyle
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God FIXED spiritual*6
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Gn01-09a
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Physical, only 1 part of life
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Waters vs land*7
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Gn01-10a
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Individuality of physical*8
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gathered water=waters
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COMMENTS
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*1 See LIST975f (WATER=day to day ordinary emotions)
WATER would refer to non-focused emotions (the type you
have when you have a few beers and so to speak hang loose
-- WATER describes emotions of sharing and comradery) It
is characteristic of people overinvolved in physical
pleasure
*2 See LIST975f (HOVERING WIND = PROPHECY)
Rashi discusses the word HOVERING. Think of a person involved
in physical pleasure. Very often they OSCILATE between getting
more involved spiritually or not. This OSCILATION
picturesquely resembles a HOVERING bird (We use here the
method of SYMBOLISM by FORM)
*3 See LIST975h (LIGHT=Prophecy/dreams) I take LIGHT here
in its most general sense of referring to intellectual
enLIGHTenment. In other words our patient involved in
physical pleasure becomes aware of his inner spiritual
world (either thru dreams or just general intellectual
insights)
*4 If - WATER = EMOTIONS and
- SKY separates LOWER and HIGHER water
THEN
- SKY symbolizes SEPARATION of HIGHER and LOWER
day-to-day emotions
Once the person becomes aware of his spiritual self
he has to have 2 parts to his life. One part when
he devotes himself to the physical and one part
when the physical is not spoken about but he devotes
himself to the spiritual
*5 If a person is to leave his physical-pleasure world
then he MUST learn to enjoy the spiritual world he
has discovered (Otherwise his needs will not be met
and he will return). Thus an important stage in
rehabilitation is learning to enjoy -- derive pleasure
-- from the newly discovered spiritual world.
*6 The Root Ayin-Sin-Hey can mean to FIX Some examples are
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Dt21-12 FIX her nails
2S19-25 He hadnt FIXED his mustache
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The interpretation is clear. The person involved
in physical pleasure
- discovered his spiritual world
- and enjoys it.
Now he must learn to integrate it
into his daily lifestyle (that is to FIX his spiritual
interests (the same way we fix nails, hair or a suit))
*7 If WATER=SHARING EMOTIONS while LAND=SERIOUS EMOTIONS
then SEPARATION OF LAND/WATER means separating
the SHARING EMOTIONS from the SERIOUS EMOTIONS. This
could eg refer to a person who eg connects everything
with physical pleasure (Cant get it off his mind).
Part of his rehabilitation is to learn to have separate
components of life for each one (A person who has not
learned this is for example ALWAYS cracking physical
jokes which his colleagues find annoying)
*8 Rashi of course is focusing on grammar (The sentence
mixes SINGULAR and PLURAL)
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The gathered water (Singular) was called waterS
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Rashi here counteracts a tendency in some people when
becoming spiritual to insult their physical life by
saying that ALL PHYSICAL SATISFACTIONS
ARE THE SAME(eg all food is the same; all women
are the same etc)
This is a serious error since without a sense of
individuality (in the physical sphere) this person
will find an overpowering need to return to his
phsyical life.
The emphasis on individuality in the physical is
picturesquely depicted by referring to the TASTES
OF THE SAME FISH WHEN COMING UP FROM DIFFERENT
BODIES OF WATER(Rashi)
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