The Aura of Torah: A Kabbalistic-Hasidic Commentary to the Weekly Readings by Rabbi Larry Tabick, Jewish Publication Society, Philadelphia; ISBN 978-0-8276-0948-8 ©2014, $24.95, p. 291, plus appendices
By Fred Reiss, Ed.D.
WINCHESTER, California — Traditionally, Kabbalah is the secret knowledge in the Torah given to Moses on Mt. Sinai, passed down orally through the ages, and finally put into writing in a book called the Zohar by Shimon bar Yochai, a second century rabbi, while living in a cave to escape Roman persecution. Scholars, however, believe that Moses de León, a thirteenth century Spanish kabbalist, is the actual author of the Zohar, which Isaac Luria, a rabbi and mystic who lived in the following century, drew upon to formulate what became modern Kabbalah. Ḥasidism and Kabbalah are connected through an eighteenth century rabbi and miracle worker, Rabbi Israel ben Eliezer, famously known as the Ba’al Shem Tov, who founded Ḥasidism on reinterpretations of Lurianic Kabbalah.
The Aura of Torah, authored by Rabbi Larry Tabick, the spiritual leader of Shir Ḥayim the Hampstead Reform Jewish Community in London, is a compendium of exegeses written by Ḥasidic rabbis and teachers on the weekly Torah portions. The interpreters include such notables as the Ba’al Shem Tov, Dov Ber of Mezritch, and Levi Yitzchak of Berditchev, as well as kabbalistic writers from pre–Ḥasidic times, such as Moses Cordovero and Isaac Luria.
Tabick quotes three separate verses from each weekly Torah portion. Each quote is followed by the verse’s scriptural context, a brief biography of the commentator, the commentator’s interpretation of the verse, notes on the expressions used in the interpretation, and finally Tabick’s observations and insights, which the reader will find very useful. Additionally, by numbering each interpretation, Tabick links them to two appendices, first to the exegesis in its original language and second to an alphabetic listing of authors with their respective biographies.
For those knowledgeable in the basics of Kabbalah, The Aura of Torah will offer immediate gratification. However, for the many who do not have knowledge of Kabbalah’s metaphors, such as linking Sephira Ḥesed to God’s attribute of Loving-kindness and the patriarch Abraham; symbolizing the Shechina with God’s earthly in-dwelling and Sephira Malchut; and the concept of the Four Worlds, the reader will have to study the book’s Introduction to fully comprehend the “secret interpretations” of the Torah portion when such imagery is employed.
Some of the mystical explanations require understanding of the rabbinic use of notarikon, a linguistic wordplay in which each letter of a Hebrew word stands for a full word, something akin to an acronym in the English language. For instance, Hayyim of Krasna, commenting on Genesis 6:13, a verse in which God tells Noah that He will “make an end to all flesh,” notes that both Genesis 6:13 and I Chronicles 16:30 have four consecutive words whose first letters can be arranged to spell the Hebrew word Chochmah, Wisdom, the second sephira; thereby linking the two verses. In the past, according to Hayyim of Krasna, the words meant “Tremble before God all the earth” (I Chron. 16:30), but now they stand for “Because all the earth is full of violence” (Gen. 6:13).
Mordechai Leiner, the eighteenth century founder of the Iżbica-Radzyn Ḥasidic dynasty, offers a radical interpretation of Genesis 28:9, which refers to Esau’s taking Ishmael’s daughter Machalat, whose name is derived from the Hebrew word for “forgiven,” in marriage. Leiner, observing that Esau had a murderous character and Ishmael an adulterous one, explains this verse using the kabbalistic concepts of a good and evil side and arrives at an answer counterintuitive to Jewish morals. He says that God permitted this marriage because He forgave both of them for what they did, concluding, “And the root of adultery, although it is also evil, nevertheless has a good side, for the flaw with adultery is that you are doing good in a place where it is not the will of the Blessed God.” According to Leiner, all evil, including adultery, has a good side.
Simchah Bunam of Pshische, a third-generation leader of the Iżbica-Radzyn Ḥasidim, considers Hebrew word roots in his interpretation of Genesis 41:1, which contains the phrase “standing by the Nile River.” He compares the “Nile River,” ha-ye’or, with standing by the “light,” ‘or, of Torah. Similarly, he explains Genesis 49:28, the introductory line to the story of Jacob blessing his sons, by examining the root of the Hebrew word for blessing, B-R-CH. “‘[E]ach one according to his blessing,’ meaning he blessed [BeRaCH] them [from] the pool [BeReiCHah] from which we are blessed.”
Readers will find, however, that most interpretations do not rely on esoteric symbolisms, but on such Ḥasidic concepts as devekut, achieving closeness to God through intense praying and performing mitzvot; hitbodedut, improving one’s character through quiet contemplation and deep introspection; love for the congregation of Israel; and taking personal responsibility.
For instance, Avraham Noach HaLevi Heller, an eighteenth century Ḥasid, interprets Numbers 24:5, “How goodly are your tents, O Jacob, your dwellings, O Israel” to mean that one should internalize rather than externalize the awe of God, directly contradicting the words spoken in the morning-prayer service, which says that one should be in awe of heaven in both public and private. Heller mystically interprets the tents and Jacob to mean the tents of the Tabernacle and the living person Jacob as referring to our world, the lower world and externalization since they are both visible, whereas dwellings and Israel refer to the upper world and internalization since they are both invisible.
The Aura of Torah is more than interesting and thought-provoking readings of biblical commentaries. The exegeses, taken from the heart of Kabbalah and the writings of Ḥasidic masters, have much historical value and give the modern reader insights into the ways eighteenth and nineteenth century Eastern European rabbis wanted their congregations to think about life and the Torah.
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Dr. Fred Reiss is a retired public and Hebrew school teacher and administrator. He is the author of The Standard Guide to the Jewish and Civil Calendars; Public Education in Camden, NJ: From Inception to Integration; Ancient Secrets of Creation: Sepher Yetzira, the Book that Started Kabbalah, Revealed; and Reclaiming the Messiah. The author may be contacted via fred.reiss@sdjewishworld.com.