By October 30, 2016 Read More →

Sefer Hasidim, § 1514, pp. 369-370.

moses-cordovero-shaarei-orah-630x315It is written “I will make all My goodness pass before you” (Exod. 33-19). The word “all” (kol) [in the expression “all My goodness,” kol tuvi] numerically equals fifty [which corresponds to the fifty] gates of understanding. Upon each and every gate there is appointed an angel. The expression “all My goodness” (kol tuvi) numerically equals [the word] mazzal, [zodiacal sign], for [God] showed Moses the sign of their souls… This is the meaning of “all My goodness before you.” It should have been written “all My goodness before your eyes.” Rather [the use of the expression “before you,” ‘al panekha] alludes to the fact that the face of Moses is above when He passes above over that very form, the angel comes down upon him and informs him… Thus it says, “And God created man in His image, in the image of God He created him” (Gen. 1-27)- one [image] above and one [image] below.

Translated by Elliot Wolfson in Through a Speculum that Shines- Vision and Imagination in Medieval Jewish Mysticism, Princeton- Princeton University Press, 1994.

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