Chodesh Tov to you all! Tishrai is the month of balance and the scales of Judgment which we will discuss below. It is also a month of beginning as can be seen by permuting the letters of Tishrai to becoming Rashit רישת which means beginning or first. Remember during this month of balance the Proverb “Who is the wise man? The one who knows his beginning.” The Torah describes Tishrai as “the month of the strong” or the month of the ancients. I am not sure why it refers to the month this way. I suggest that the ancients is referring to the earlier generations from Adam to Noach as they may have been born during this month. The idea of the “strong” relates to our generation because, in our generation, it takes someone very strong to do all of the Holidays and rituals of this month. (Joke but semi serious)
The ARI Rabbi Issac Luria teaches that the month of Tishrai is a month of returning light. What is returning light? It is the light that one has sent back to its source because in the Sefirah of Malchut there can be no light of its own. To explain this in more detail:
Kabbalah teaches that the light within the line (a Kabbalistic description of creation) flows in two directions either down from God to our physical world or up from our actions back up to the higher worlds including the Highest world of the Keter. Kabbalah also teaches that when this light is sent back to its source, by our actions or Kavenah, it actually then becomes available to be revealed in the Sefirah of Malchut. This is the meaning of binding by striking or restriction as taught in our basic class No 5 and 6. What is the source of this teaching by the ARI? In the letters of Tishrai, the Yood represents Hashem. The other 3 letters are in the reverse order of the Aleph Bet. The ARI determined that this indicated the flow of light back up to the Higher Worlds. This is a deep subject and if is not clear to you send me an email requesting clarification.
When we permute the letters of Tishrai we get the following שרתי. We can then substitute Kadosh for the last 2 letters because they have the same gematria of 410. Now the letters of Tishrai are translated as “ruler of Holyness”. This comes from the idea of the Holidays stretching from Rosh Hashana (birthing the new person as well as the new year) until Simchat Torah (the maturation of the person and his process of revelation during the new year.
Our sages teach that Israel does not sin during the first half of Tishrai. Why? Because as newly created beings we do not have the ability to sin as a child is just not knowledgeable and therefore is not liable for his actions of sinning. Once Yom Kippur passes we are busy building Sukka's and preparing our Lulav and Etrog for the Mitzvot of Sukkot, Shemini Atzeret , and Simchat Torah. Therefore we never sin until after the Holidays of Holyness as revealed in the letters of Tishrai (see above). The gematria of the month of Tishrai is a 910 and 910 is very revealing. This is 91 times 10. As a Kabbalah student you should recognize the meaning of 91. It is the unity of the spiritual and the physical. Ten represents the complete vessel of the 10 Sephirot. Tishrai represents the unity of the physical and the spiritual levels in their complete partsuf or structure of all ten sephirot.
As we said above Tishrai is a month of judgment and it relates to the month of scales or Libra which represents balance. I am sure you never thought about the 2 sides of the balance scale representing the spiritual world and the physical world in unity. Contemplate how this changes your perception of the meaning of the word balance and what is truly the essence of balance in your life.
Let us learn from Abraham and his book of outreach to the people of his generation (which includes us) the Sefer Yetzirah.
Letters of the month: Lamedל. The word lamed is translated as teacher. It is also the only letter that goes above the line (the upper boundary of the letters when written in thae Torah Scroll). This represents the desire and longing of the Lamed to return to the creator. This represents the concept of true Tshuvah that we approach during the High Holidays of Tishrai (see below).
While we discussed Tshuvah last month in Elul, during the month of Tishrai we can reach an even higher level of Tshuvah. We can reach the level of Tshuvah that our sages refer to as "even a Tzadik who never sinned can not stand at the level of a Baal Tshuvah (someone returning to Hashem) who acheives complete Tshuvah.
What is complete Tshuvah? It is the level where the light which was meant to be revealed by the action that was potentially meant to manifest. Unfortunately, that action actually became a sin; the result was that light was captured by the negative side. Now when the level of ultimate Tshuvah is acheived that light is released from the negative side and manifests as the full revelation and fulfillment that was actually meant for the person and the world.
Pey פ is the letter that created the constellation that we call scales or Libra. The word for Libra is Oznayim in Hebrew. Pey, in Hebrew means mouth. When written by a scribe in the Torah it has a concealed Bet inside. An excellent exercise to expand our consciousness is to attempt to see the Pey and the Bet at the same time.
Together the Pey and the Lamed have a gematria of 110. When we add 2 for the concealed Bet the gematria is 112. This is the gematria of the word Yabok spelled Yood Bet Koof. Yabok is the name of the river that Jacob crossed to wrestle with the Angel of Esav. It is also the gematria of the 3 names of God. Adonai, the Tetragramaton, and Ehyeh. That is 65 + 26 + 21. These 3 names-of-god represent a unification of the levels of Binah, Zeir Anpin and Malchut.
Another teaching we deduce from the Pey and Lamed is by using the names of all 3 letters. Pey = mouth; Lamed= Teach; and Bet represents the Blessings that come from our mouth. This teaches that is incumbent upon us to teach our mouths to say the Blessings.
Tribe: The tribe of Efraim
is the seventh of the Tribes when it comes to giving offerings at the Mishkan dedication. There is much to be learned from the Name Efraim about the characteristics of the month of Tishrai, so here is the link to the seventh day of the dedication that we have available on our website.Efraim is the son of Joseph HaTzadik. He is the Archtypal soul of the ability to procreate within the marriage.
Sense: touch. The Hebrew word for touch is cognate to the word for sexual relations. So this sense is related to the name of the Tribe of Efraim which has the meaning of “double fruitfulness.” Touch is the only sense not centered in the face but in the hands.
Efraim will be more involved with manifestation than the other Tribes connected to different senses. Since the sense of touch is more involved with the body than the head Efraim is more involved with manifestation.
Efraim was picked by Jacob over the first born son Menashe. The reason (concealed in the Torah) is this sense of touch connecting Efraim to manifestation. This is why there is this tension between the Tribes of Judah and Efraim over the Kingship. Is the King involved with thought or manifestation. Is it Keter from the Head or Malchut with the Heart and Hands?
Controller: Gall Bladder.
The gall bladder has green bile. The gall bladder supports the cleansing of the liver. This green bile according to the sages of the Talmud is the source of sexual arousal. Sexual arousal appears to be from the body but is actually centered in the brain. There is a strong connection between the idea of the Mind of the Heart and the green bile of the gall bladder. We see this from the discussion above.
The color of the month is red violet .
Energy Days: The first 23 days of Tishrai are high energy days and Holidays. Here is the description link from our weekly emails Listed below are the Hilulot/Yartzeit (Day of Joy and Passing) of some of the important personages in Jewish Life. Here is a link to the Hilulot for each day in the month of Tishrai.
For people who have their north node in Tishrai, the Tikune is about nullifying your pride in this life to correct your errors from a previous life. This is not an easy Tikune. The Tikune in Libra points you toward sacrifice in its noblest sense. It is best for this Tikune to decide to work with a group to achieve a goal. Once you realize that the groups goal is more important than your own personal goal you will learn true happiness.
For all of us the influence of the Astrological sign of Libra will deal with beginnings.
Any problems you had during the past year with beginnings came from last Rosh Hashana and indicate your beginnings last year were not truly pure, and needed more care and commitment on your part.
Since the biginning of Tishrai is a time of reflection it will be beneficial to make sure that any seeds planted this year take additional effort and care to manifest during this coming year. The more effort you put forth, the purer your motives, and the greater your sharing consciousness this month will manifest as a much sweeter fruit during the year.
Chodesh Tov
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