Pesach is associated with the Sefirah of Chesed. The text is from The Ten Sefirot in Sacred Time, available from Aleph.  [NOTE:  Translation by Gabbai Seth Fishman, BLOG Editor.  Words in brackets [] added for explanation by Gabbai Seth.]

And on Pesach, it’s widely known that as we eat matzah we focus on haEMuNah / trust in God (Zohar II 183:) “michla dimhEMeNusa“ / “Food of faith,” (and michla d’asussa / “Food of remedy“).  Pesach is the holiday of Abraham our father, (peace be to him), she-he-EMiN / who trusted in God, and who went down to Egypt, which created for us the possibility of leaving Mitzrayim.  And, he was generous and charitable, and he put his attention to the freeing of captives.

And when you contemplate the arrangement of the Seder plate, you will discern in the three Matzahs, 1) Chochmah, 2) Binah and 3) Daat. 

[Chochmah:  Intuitive wisdom; right brain; conceptualization.
Binah: The ability to distinguish, differentiate; left brain; analysis.
Da-at:  Experiential knowledge; reality testing.] 

And six divisions in the plate as follows:
1) Z’roa / Shank bone in Chesed, [reminder of having been spared the killing of the first born],
2) Beitzah / Egg in Gevurah [recalling the churban, our punishment],
3) Maror / Bitter herbs in Tiferet [stirring compassion],
4) Karpas / Celery in Netzach [reminder of the labor],
5) Charoset / Pesach Mixture in Hod [mortar, mud, apple, sweetness],
6) Chazeret / Horseradish  in Yesod [slavery]-

All six together being ze’er anpin / short face, [term which means these six Sefiros].

7) And The plate itself, is the Nukva Malchut [final sefira which is a containing structure for the other six].

And the four cups are the four worlds corresponding to the letters of the revered name, [YHVH/Atzilut, Beriyah, Yetzirah, Assiyah]. 

And the seder begins with Kiddush in Atzilut [Keter, Chochmah] and with the telling in Beriyah [Binah, which, together with Chochmah, give birth to all the other qualities]. 

And after the meal, the Birkat Hamazon / Grace and the great Hallel are in Yetzirah, [singing, celebrating, heart-level].  And The cup of Elijah is between Yetzirah and Assiyah [descending into redemption] until it gets to a point where we all come to rejoice in something real that will follow, [this text is from the Haggadah:] chasal siddur pesach… / “The Passover Seder is completed per requirements – just as we have merited to conduct the seder, so may we merit to do,” and that doing is Assiyah – l-shannah ha-baah birushalayim / “next year in Jerusalem,” bringing our vision into a better world – redemption.

And so one can say: “I believe with perfect faith that Hashem yitbarach in Hir glory, (S/He Hirself, not through a designee, not an angel and not a Seraph,  through Hir own effort), and through Hir sending a taste of supernal, freely bestowed Chesed and through a stirring from above, a kindly dew of generosity, (i.e., it didn’t happen because we deserved it; it happened irregardless), (cf Zohar III 128), God did all of this to redeem us with four phrases of redemption,

[These are, (Exodus 6:6-7) “I will take you out from under the suffering of Egypt,” “I will save you from their service,” “I will redeem you with an outstretched hand”, and “I will take you as a nation”]

“and S/he did it in all four worlds (Atzilut, Beriyah, Yetzirah and Assiyah), and with cures to the maladies of Mitzrayim and with the removal of those obstacles we face, obstacles to our bliss and to redemption.”

This entry was posted on Sunday, March 22nd, 2009 at 11:18 am and is filed under Calendar, Participatory Epistemology. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.