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The Eucharist and The Jewish Mystical Tradition Part 1

Athol Bloomer

Ed. This article appeared inThe Hebrew Catholic #77, pp 15-18. Athol is a laymissionary with the Missionary Society of Our Lady of the Blessed Sacrament. Thisseries reflects talks that Athol gave in the early 1990s.

Caution:Athol's reflections spring from his life previously as an observant Jew and nowas a Catholic. Our inclusion of these articles are not to be understood as arecommendation to study Jewish mysticism as found in modern day versions of theKabbalah. On the contrary, without special studies and a firm formation in the Catholicfaith, we would urge all Catholics to avoid the Kabbalah - it is a mixed bag of the occultand other elements contrary to the faith. Athol's reflections sort through the distortionsintroduced by the Lurianic Kabbalists to show the truths of the Catholic faith hidden inthe Jewish mystical traditions. Here is Athol's response to an email query.

Q. I studied Kabbala years ago; it is a gnostic corruption of Judaism. Couldyou explain ... your position ...?A. In regards to the Kabbalah being gnostic this is a rather complex topic.It is more that Gnostics took elements of the Jewish and Christian Mysticaltraditions and distorted them to their own ends. Also, some Gnosticelements have come into the Jewish Kabbalah via certain schools and Iam very discerning when reading the interpretations of Kabbalah by theLurianic Kabbalists. At times the wheat is mixed with the chaff. When westand on the Rock of our Faith in Yeshua and His Kehilla we are able todiscern what is part of the authentic Kabbalah and what has been

introduced as a distortion.

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In the Middle Ages there were a number of Jewish converts to the Church who hadbecome convinced Christians by studying and practicing the Jewish Mystical Tradition.These Jewish converts wrote a number of books which explored the Kabbalah or JewishMystical traditions in the light of Catholic belief. Pope Sixtus IV along with some otherPopes approved of this movement and ordered the Kabbalah to be translated into Latinand to be studied by all Divinity students. This was the pre-Lurainic Kabbalah. Howeverwith the rise of a more rationalistic generation this field of research was neglected byCatholic scholars.

Shekinah

Shekinah is the central concept of this mysticism. Father Elias Friedman in his writingsmentions this understanding of Shekinah in regards to the Eucharistic Presence of Jesusin the Tabernacles of the Catholic Church. Just as the Shekinah dwelt in the Temple ofSolomon so the Shekinah in the flesh was Yeshuah and now dwells in the tabernacles ofthe world. Thus the central concept of both Jewish and Catholic mysticism is the DivinePresence (Shekinah). A study of the Jewish Mystical tradition in the light of theEucharist is, in my opinion, essential in the future development of a Hebrew Catholicspirituality that would enrich the whole Church. Adoration of the Shekinah is the centralactivity of the Jewish mystics just as Eucharistic Adoration is the central activity of theCatholic mystics. These adorers in the Jewish traditions are called the Reapers of theField or Comrades. The present Pope is calling all of us to grow in our personalrelationship with Yeshuah through Eucharistic Adoration. On 13 June 1993 at theEucharistic Congress in Seville, Spain the Pope called on all parishes and Christiancommunities to establish Perpetual Eucharistic Adoration. The Church in the U.S. hasresponded generously to this call with over 1000 parishes now having PerpetualEucharistic Adoration.

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It is significant that it was in Spain, where the population is very Jewish in ancestry, dueto the mass conversions of Jews in 1391 and 1492, that the Pope expressed this desire.It is in Spain that many Catholics believe that a future Eucharistic miracle in connectionwith the Shekinah Presence of God will occur at Garabandal.

The Old Testament speaks of a similar event to happen on the mountain where Mosesdied in the last days. In the Second Book of Maccabees (2:4-12), it describes how theProphet Jeremiah hid the Ark of the Covenant in a cave. He prophesied that the Ark ofthe Covenant would remain hidden until the time of the return of the Jews and theirreceiving of Gods mercy. Then the Ark will be revealed and the Shekinah Presence ofGod will manifest himself just as he did in the time of Moses and Solomon. In thispassage of Scripture our attention is drawn to the two figures of importance in areflection on the Jewish origins of the Eucharist. They are Moses (Moshe) and Solomon(Shlomo). This short passage is like a capsule hiding many interesting treasures. Thefigures of Jeremiah, Moses and Solomon represent the role of Yeshuah as prophet(Jeremiah), priest (Moses), and king (Solomon) as well as the three sections of the OldTestament the Torah (Moses), the Prophets (Jeremiah) and the writings (Solomon).

Verse 8 of this chapter links us to the Manna of the Old Covenant in Exodus as a type ofthe Eucharistic bread, and verses 10-11 with the institution of the Old covenantsacrificial priesthood (Leviticus 9). This passage also draws our attention to theTabernacle (Exodus 40) and the Temple (1 Kings 8) showing the connection between

the Shekinah and the sacrificial system.

What is Kabbalah?

As mentioned above, an understanding of the Eucharist as the Shekinah Presencedwelling in the tabernacles of the Church is helped with a knowledge of the Jewishmystical traditions called Kabbalah. Some Kabbalah is a part of the Jewish OralTradition which first started to be written down from the second century onwards, aswere the other oral traditions found in the Talmud. Certain aspects of this tradition werealso found in written form such as the Books of Enoch. I Enoch was found written inAramaic in the Dead Sea Scrolls. In Jewish tradition both Enoch and Elijah areassociated with the Kabbalah, and aspects are found in Scripture in Ezekiel, Isaiah and

Daniel. However, the Jewish mystical tradition as recorded in the Zohar (an importantwork of Kabbalah written by Moses de Leon), relates that all Scripture has a hiddenmystical meaning as well as the literal historical meaning. The earthly meaning is onlya shadow of the true heavenly or mystical reality.

Blurred Cloudy Lens

It is through the use of the earthly language of symbols that man can get a glimpse ofthe heavenly reality as through what the Rabbinic tradition calls a blurred, cloudy lens(as also mentioned by St.Paul in 1 Corinthians 13:12). Thus in one sense we could saythat the Eucharistic species is that blurred, cloudy lens through which we see the RealPresence of the Divinity. Paul states that one day the full glory of the Eucharist will be

revealed when we see God face to face. This dwelling of Gods Presence in time andspace is called in Judaism the Miniature Presence or Shekinah. The Jewish ArtscrollSiddur-Sefard (p.391) states in the commentary:

Although Gods Presence is everywhere, it is not readily discernable onearth where events can be understood as a result of natural causes ratherthan emanating from Him. The lack of clarity in our perception of HisPresence is as if we observed an event through me-iy-rah is-pak-lar-yashe-ey-nah, a blurred, cloudy lens. The result is that we have a diminishedappreciation of Gods greatness. This is the unclear lens through which weattempt to perceive His influence and is referred to as the miniaturePresence of God.

The Miniature Presence

The Shekinah or Miniature Presence of God is also called in Kabbalah the Holy AppleOrchard or the Field of the Sacred Apples. This terminology comes from the Song ofSongs where the Bridegroom (in Hebrew, Hatan) is associated with the Apple Tree(Song of Songs 2:3;8:5). The fruit of the apple tree is associated by the Rabbis with theTorah. They interpret Song 8:5 as:




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How worthy she is who rises from the desert bearing Torah and HisPresence, clinging to her beloved.

The Bride and the Bridegroom

In this interpretation the Bride (Kallah) is called the Kehal (the Community, Church,Assembly, Synagogue, Ekklesia) and is the bearer to mankind of the Torah and theDivine Presence. Thus the Jewish tradition proclaims that the Torah which is the Wordof God (Dabar), and the Divine Presence are the possession of the Community (Kehal orKehilla) of Gods People. In the Catholic sense this is the bride of St. Pauls writings

the Church which is the bearer of the Word of God and the Sacraments that make theDivine Presence really present in the life of the believer. That the Song of Songs is amystical writing is proclaimed by both the Jewish Tradition and the Church Fathers. TheMystery of the Church (or Body of Christ) is explained in symbols through the love of theBridegroom (Hatan) for his Bride (Kallah).

Jesus himself drew on this imagery and referred to himself as the Bridegroom and Hisdisciples as the children of the Huppah (the Marriage Canopy). This is why the BlessedSacrament, when it is processed, is covered by the Huppah of the New Covenant. Paulalso explains the mystery of the Church in this mystical language drawn from the Jewishtradition. As the Jewish bride circles round the bridegroom, so the Church revolvesaround Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament.

The Shekinah Presence

St. John the Beloved also uses this tradition. John links the Incarnation of the DivineWord (Dabar in Hebrew, Memra in Aramaic and Logos in Greek) in John 1:14 with theShekinah in the Tabernacle (or Tent) and Temple of the Old Covenant. John 1:14 statesliterally that the Word was made flesh and pitched his tent among us. This can betranslated also as the Word was made man and tabernacled or shekinah-ed amongstus. Thus Yeshuah is the Miniature Presence of God which in the Old Covenant wasveiled by the cloud but in the New Covenant was veiled by Yeshuahs human flesh andalso by the veil of the Eucharistic species of the bread and wine.

John 1:14 continues in the second part: and we saw his glory (Kavod in Hebrew closely

associated with the concept of Shekinah), the glory (Kavod) that is his as the onlybegotten Son of the Father, full of Grace (Hesed) and Truth (Emet). The JerusalemBible commentary on this states that:

The glory is the manifestation of Gods Presence (Ex 24:16+), but thehuman nature of the Word now screens this glory as the cloud once did.Yet at times it pierces the veil, at the transfiguration, for instance, cf Lk9:32,35 (alluded to in Jn 1:14?) and when Jesus works miracles signsthat God is active in him The Resurrection will reveal the glory fully (cfJn 17:5+).

The Kavod or Glory of God is closely associated with the concept of Shekinah, as it is

Shekinah that allows the Kavod to manifest in time and space through the power of theHoly Spirit (Ruach haKodesh) in a veiled form that man can perceive as through ablurred cloudy lens. It is the Kavod or Dabar (Word), also known as Wisdom orPrimordial Torah, through the power of the Holy Spirit, that manifests himself in timeand space. This process is what Shekinah is. Thus the Shekinah came to be seen in theJewish tradition as a simile for the Divine Presence itself.

The Shekinah is often refered to in the feminine form because in the Jewish traditionsthe Holy Spirit and wisdom are at times referred to in the feminine gender.Understanding (Binah) which is closely linked to Wisdom (Hokmah) is also referred to infeminine terminology. Yeshuah also gives himself feminine imagery when he describeshimself as a mother hen who gathers her chicks under her wings this is a directallusion to the concept of the wings of Shekinah found in Rabbinic literature.

The Heavenly Portal

The Kabbalah states that the portal or gateway to the mystical realm of the Heavenliesis through the Holy Apple Orchard or Shekinah. Thus we can say that the EucharisticPresence in the Tabernacle is the portal or gateway to ascending to the Heavenlies andthe mysteries of the Holy Trinity. The following prayer-praise is recited during the




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Jewish Sabbath evening meal.

Prepare the feast of perfect faith, the joy of the Holy King. Prepare thefeast of the King. This is the feast of the Field of Sacred Apples. And theMiniature Presence and the Holy Ancient One come to feast with it. I willcut away (the accusers) with praises, bringing them up through the portalsthat are in the Apple Orchard, for they are holy. Let us now invite (theShekinah) with a newly laid table

This links the earthly Sabbath meal with the Heavenly Wedding Feast. The Sabbathitself is called the Sabbath Bride or Queen in the Jewish liturgy for the Sabbath. Thuswe see that the Sabbath meal is associated with the Heavenly banquet or WeddingFeast in connection with the Shekinah as the kingly bridegroom and the Sabbath as thequeenly bride the linking the Sabbath meal with the Song of Songs. In the NewCovenant the Sabbath meal along with all the festival meals is transformed into theMass as the Wedding Feast of the Eucharistic King. Thus the Jewish Sabbath Meal is atype of the Mass and Eucharist.

All the festival meals of Judaism including the Passover have their roots in the weeklySabbath Evening Meal. These meals al l find their fulfillment or culmination in the mealof the Eucharistic Sacrifice, which we call the Holy Mass.

The Sabbath Queen

The Sabbath Bride or Queen is an image or type of Our Lady and the Church. Our Ladyis the Sabbath Queen for whom Catholics honour each Saturday as a feast day of OurLady, and the Jews unknowingly invoke her in song as the Sabbath Queen. TheOrthodox Jews sing the song Lechah Dodi (Come my Beloved) each Sabbath towelcome the Sabbath Queen. The title alone links in to the Song of Songs. It concludeswith:

Enter, O bride! Enter, O bride, enter O bride, the Sabbath Queen, Comemy Beloved to greet the bride the Sabbath Presence, let us welcome!.

The Sefirot

In the Jewish mystical tradition the Sefirot are the ten Attributes of the Divinity orGodhead. The Sefirot are seen in Kabbalah as the garments or crowns of the King andas aspects of the Divine Personality which are united like a flame joined to a coal. TheKabbalah uses the image of a tree or a body to explain the Sefirot. They call this Bodythe Primordial Adam (Adam Kadmon) and this can be linked to St Pauls concepts of theSecond Adam and the Body of Christ. The Shekinah is also Malkut (Kingdom) as thetenth Sefirah of the Jewish mystical understanding of the Godhead. It is throughMalkut/Shekinah that one enters the heavenly realm or palaces of the Divine Sefirot (orAttributes of the Divinity). Besides this tenth Sefirah through which one has to enter asa portal or gateway, the Sefirot are grouped into three triads of Attributes. These nineSefirot within the God head are in complete unity God is not divided into separate

parts but is a unity (Echad). The ten Sefirot are further seen as three forces with in theGodhead. One commentary on the Jewish Kabbalistic book Bahir states that the tensefirot are indeed three, and they represent three celestial forces. The Kabbalah (in theteaching of Rabbi Isaac the Blind of Provence) states that the power that unifies thesethree forces within the Godhead is the power of Hesed (Divine Mercy/Love/ Grace).Thus we can say the dynamics of the Trinity is that of Love or Mercy. Hesed can also betranslated as lovingkindness.

The Head Triad

The first three sefirot of the Godhead make up the Sacred Head of the Divine Body. TheInfinite God beyond all images or aspects or sefirah is called Ein Sof. Ein Sof in Catholicthought is the Father. The first Sefirah of the first Triad of the Head is called Keter(Crown) and is co-eternal with Ein Sof, and Keter is also called Razon (Divine Will) andAyin (Nothingness). It is also the Sefirah of Divine Knowledge. It is from this Sefirahthat all the others emanate or proceed. The other two Sefirot of the Head Triad areHokmah (Wisdom) and Binah (Understanding). Keter, Hokmah and Binah are the threehighest sefirot and represent the head of the Divine or Mystical Body and are the mosthidden of the Sefirot.




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The Triad of the Sacred Heart

The second or middle triad of the Primordial Adam is the arms and torso of the DivineBody. In Catholic devotion this is called the Sacred Heart. The White Right Arm is theSefirah of Hesed (Mercy/Love) and the Red left Arm is the Sefirah of Din(Judgment/Justice/Power). The torso or heart of the divine body is the Sefirah ofRahamim (Compassion/Beauty). The Sefirah of Hesed (Mercy/Love) is the Attribute thatunifies the Godhead - and Hesed is described in the Jewish traditions as having 13Attributes which are recorded in Exodus 34:6-7. The invocation of these thirteen

attributes of Mercy saved Israel from Divine Destruction or Judgement. Kabbalahteaches that, when the Sefirah of Judgement (Din) reacts with the Sefirah of Mercy(Hesed) it brings forth the Sirah of Compassion (Rahamim). These three Sefirot of Din,Hesed and Rachamim are the second or middle triad of the Sefirot.

The first three attributes of Mercy invoked before Moses was YHVH, YHVH, El this islinked to the three mentions of God in the Shema as YHVH, Elohaynu (Our God), YHVHechad (echad = one unity). The Kabbalistic tradition also associates the thirteenattributes of Mercy with the three Kadoshim of Holy, Holy, Holy of Isaiah 6 and of theJewish liturgy. The Jewish Prayer Book calls God the thrice- Holy God. Thus in theauthentic Jewish mystical tradition is found a preparation for the Trinitarian andEucharistic revelation of the New Covenant. This is one of the reasons that traditionallythe Rabbinic Jews forbade anyone not over 50 from studying the Kabbalah, as it iwas

considered potentially dangerous to Orthodox Jewish Faith.

The Sefirah of Hesed is also called Gedullah (Greatness) and the Sefirah of Din is alsocalled Gevurah (Power). Mercy is the greatest of Gods Attributes. Hesed and Din arethe right and left hands or arms of God. As mentioned above Hesed is the White RightArm and Din the Red Left Arm. The concept of White as a colour of Mercy and red as acolour of Judgement/Justice reminds the Catholic of the divine Mercy Picture of thewhite and red rays streaming out from the torso or chest of Jesus in the region of theheart. The reaction between Hesed and Din produces the Sefirah of Compassion(Rahamim) which is seen as the torso or heart of the Divine Body and is also known asTiferet (Beauty) and Blessed Holy One. The Messiah is also seen as the Beauty ofIsrael and the Blessed Holy One. Thus this Sefirah is associated with the concept of the

compassionate coming Messiah. Tiferet (Beauty) is also called Heaven, Sun, and Kingas well as being considered the son of Hokmah (Wisdom) and the son of Binah(Understanding). Evil in this Jewish tradition is called Sitra Ahra the Other Side- andcomes when Judgement (Din) is not softened by Love/Mercy (Hesed).

The Lower Triad

The lower or third triad is made up of the two sefirot of Netzach (Endurance/Victory)and Hod (Majesty/Glory) which produce Yesod (Foundation) as the third Sefirah of thistriad. Netzach and Hod are seen as the right and left legs of God and are considered thesource of prophecy. Yesod is the foundation of the world and the axus mundi or cosmicpillar as the phallus of the divine Body. Yesod is also called Tsaddik (righteous) and is

thus associated with the ti tle of Tsaddik given to the Messiah. Proverbs 10:25 states: The Righteous One (Tsaddik) is the foundation (Yesod) of the world. The light andpower of the Sefirot are channelled through Yesod to the last Sefirah (the 10th) ofMalkut/Shekinah. Tiferet and Shekinah are united by Yesod. Shekinah is seen as theBride and in this context can be associated with the Church (Community) as the Bride ofthe Messiah. Kabbalah sees that the human marriage symbolises the Heavenly orDivine Marriage. As we have seen above the Sabbath Eve is seen as the weeklycelebration of the Sacred Wedding.

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The Eucharist and Jewish Mystical Tradition - Part 2

Athol Bloomer

Ed. This article appeared inThe Hebrew Catholic #78, pp. 24-27. All rights reserved.Athol is a lay missionary with the Missionary Society of Our Lady of the BlessedSacrament. This series reflects talks that Athol gave in the early 1990s.

Caution:Athol's reflections spring from his life previously as an observant Jew and nowas a Catholic. Our inclusion of these articles are not to be understood as arecommendation to study Jewish mysticism as found in modern day versions of theKabbalah. On the contrary, without special studies and a firm formation in the Catholicfaith, we would urge all Catholics to avoid the Kabbalah - it is a mixed bag of the occultand other elements contrary to the faith. Athol's reflections sort through the distortionsintroduced by the Lurianic Kabbalists to show the truths of the Catholic faith hidden inthe Jewish mystical traditions. Here is Athol's response to an email query.



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The Four Rabbis

A story is told about four Torah scholars (Rabbis) who entered into the mystical realm.One returned from the mystical ascent insane, one st ill orthodox (according to RabbinicJudaism), one as a heretic, and another as a Christian. The rabbi that remained strictlyOrthodox was Rabbi Akiva who proclaimed Simon bar Kokba as the Messiah in the 2ndcentury. Thus, as a Hebrew Catholic I must query whether Rabbi Akiva was deluded bySatan (as an angel of light) in his attempt at the mystical ascent. The rabbi that came

back a Christian was the famous Rabbi Simeon ben Zoma who was a contemporary ofRabbi Akiva.

Eucharistic Centred

It is only through Yeshuah and his shed blood that one can safely attempt the mysticalascent, and such an ascent must be totally Eucharistic centred. St. Teresa of Avila andSt. John of the Cross, both from Judaeo-Converso families, reveal the completion of theJewish Kabbalah in the Revelation of Yeshuah as the Messiah. Avila was a centre ofmedieval Jewish Kabbalah so it is quite possible that Teresa and John would havebeen familiar with the Jewish understanding of the mystical ascent. The seven castlesof St. Teresa mirror the seven palaces (heikhalot) of the early Kabbalah tradition. The

famous compiler of the Zohar, Rabbi Moses de Leon, was centred with his Kabbalisticschool in Avila. That the Jewish Kabbalah is truly ancient can be seen in that St. Pauland St. John the Beloved seem to be familiar with its images and symbolism. TheEgyptian theology of the Ennead is a corrupted version of this same mystical tradition.Later misuse of Kabbalah can be seen in Lurianic Kabbalah and its offspringFreemasonry. These both distort the Kabbalah into an occultic direction.

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Wisdom and Understanding

Hokmah(Wisdom) is also called Reshit(Beginning) and is associated with the creationof the Universe in the first word of the Bible Bereshit(In the Beginning). Thus Hokmahis linked to Dabar(the Word) which brings forth all creation. St John in John 1 confirmsthis Jewish concept linking Wisdom, creation and the Word. Binah(Understanding), thethird Sefirah of the Head Triad, is seen as the Divine Womb or Mother. She receives theseed, the point of Hokmah and conceives the lower Sefirot. Binah on one level can beassociated with the Holy Spirit as the Spirit of Understanding. In Catholic tradition the

Holy Spirit and Mary are so united as to call Mary the Spouse of the Holy Spirit. Mary,like the Spirit, became a divine womb or Mother receiving the seed of divinity (theDivine Word or Wisdom) and conceiving the God-Man. The role and function of Mary isso united to the Holy Spirit that Mary (Miriam ha Kadosha) is the perfect mirror of theHoly Trinity.

On one level each Sefirah in each Triad can represent a person of the Holy Trinity. Alsoeach of the three Triads can also represent one of the persons of the Trinity. The HeadTriad with the Father, the middle Triad with the Son and the Lower Triad with the HolySpirit. In the Head Triad Keterrepresents the Father, Hokmah the son and Binah theHoly Spirit. Within the Middle Triad Dinrepresents the Father, Hesedthe Holy Spirit andTiferet(Rachamim) with the Son. In the Lower triad Hodrepresents the Father,Netzachthe Holy Spirit and Yesodthe Son. The dynamic of reaction within the family of

the Godhead is animated by Hesed. Hesed is the blood of the Divine Body.

In one sense then we can say that Mary is the daughter of Keter, the mother of Hokmahand the spouse of Binah. Binah is the mother of the seven lower sefirot that make upthe Mystical Body (Adam), just as Mary is the Mother of the Body of Christ the Church.

The Eucharistic Mystery

This heavenly or mystical understanding of the Sefirot opens up a fuller understandingof the unity of the Godhead with the Church and with each member of the Church. It isonly through the Eucharist that this mystery of unity can be found. The Eucharist is theway to the mystical union or marriage of the soul with the Heavenly Bridegroom. It is

Eucharistic Adoration that helps sanctify the soul in preparation for that mystical union.The outward appearance of the Eucharist is in time and space but within the veil it isbeyond time and space and the whole mystery of the Heavenlies and the Trinity isencompassed within the Sacred Host, as a portal to the Divine realm. The Trinity dwellsnot so much in the heights but in the depths of the Sacred Host of the Altar which isthe Sacred Heart.

The Reapers of the Holy Field

The Jewish mystical tradition calls the masters of the mystical wisdom the Comrades orthe Reapers of the Field. This field is of course the Apple Field mentioned above inconnection with the Shekinah and the Song of Songs. The Apple Trees of this Holy Field

or Orchard are the sefirot from Hesed to Yesod. The Zoharlinks this concept of the HolyApple Orchard with the Heavenly Bread similar to the Heavenly Manna. To understandthe Heavenly mysteries and to make the mystical ascent one must feed on thisHeavenly Food or Dew. This Bread is Jesus himself proclaims John 6. St. John theBeloved, as his name suggests, is a master of this mystical tradition of the Apple Treesof the Song of Songs of the Beloved. Thus John and Paul, both Jewish Rabbis, can becalled Reapers of the Holy Field. Thus today the true Reapers of the Field are those whoenter in to the Eucharistic Mystery and spend time feeding on the Eucharistic Lordthrough the Mass and Perpetual Eucharistic Adoration. The Zoharsays:

Come and see; Every single day, dew trickles down from the Holy Ancientone to the Impatient One, and the orchard of holy apple trees is blessed.Some of the dew flows to those below; holy angels are nourished by it,each according to his diet, as it is written: A human ate angel bread(Psalm 78:25) Israel ate of that food in the desert. Rabbi Shimon said:Some people are nourished by it even now! Who are they? The Comrades,who engage Torah day and night. Do you think they are nourished by thatvery food? No, by something like that very food....




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The Divine Body

The Divine Body of the Sefirot is not only Trinitarian but is the Divine Body of theMessiah/Word (the Primordial Adam) himself. The first Triad represents his role as King,the second triad his role as Priest and the Third Triad his role as Prophet. The DivineBody is the Son as the visible manifestation of the invisible Deity as stated by St. Paul.Man (Adam) is created in his image and likeness. Man also has the sefirot as the makeup of his spiritual emotive being. The Sefirot in the Godhead are of one substance withthe Deity. The Sefirot emanate from the Deity (Ein Sof/Father) in the sense of

generation and procession. In man the Sefirot of his spiritual self (soul powers) are acreated illumination made in the image and likeness of the Divine Sefirot. Thesesefirotic soul powers are reunited by the Holy Spirit with the Divine Sefirot (Attributes)in baptism and we regain the full likeness of God which was lost in the Fall and is relosteach time we fall into mortal sin. In Eucharistic Adoration this likeness grows from gloryto glory.

The Zoharproclaims that the Shekinah is also Kneset Yisrael, the mystical community ofIsrael and that all of Israel are her limbs (Zohar3:231b). thus the Church, the NewIsrael, is the Shekinah seen as Bride of God. The shekinah as the Eucharistic Presence isso connected with the Church, that both are seen as Shekinah. It is the Church whichpossesses and brings forth through its priesthood the Presence of the Eucharistic Lord.Therefore the concept of the Sefirot shines a light of understanding on the unity

between Jesus, the Father and the Holy Spirit: and the unity between Christ and theChurch: and the unity of the hearts of Jesus and Mary: and the unity of the soul with theDivinity. The Shekinah as Bride is seen as a daughter of Binah (Understanding) alsocalled Moon, just as Mary is the Moon (or Understanding) of Israel and the Mother ofthe Church. As noted above Miriam ha Kadosha (Holy Mary) is the spouse of the HolySpirit (or Binah) and Mother of the Eucharistic Lord (the Shekinah).

The Torah

What is the Torah? Jewish people call the first five books of Moses the Torah. They alsouse the word Torah for the whole of Scripture and the oral Tradition. Thus the wordTorah is associated with the term Word of God (Dabar). The Jewish tradition claimed

that the Patriarchs also kept Torah so that Torah was not just the giving of the Torahon Mt Sinai. The giving of the Torah on Mt. Sinai is seen as the earthly garments of theheavenly or Primordial Torah. In Kabbalah, as handed down by Rabbi Isaac the Blind ofProvence, it states that:

It is written God by Wisdom founded the Earth(Proverbs 3;19). Wisdom(Hokmah) is nothing other than Torah due to the number of itscommandments. Also its name was Amon before the world was created,as it is written It was by Him, as an architect (Amon)(Proverbs 8:30).

Thus Torah as Wisdom and word of God is part of the divinity itself and thecommandments of the Torah are only an earthly garment of this Primordial Torah. Thus

it can logically be said that Jesus as Wisdom and Word of God is the Living andPrimordial Torah who took on flesh in the Incarnation. The garment Torah cloaked itselfin, in the Old Covenant, was only temporary whereas Jesus as Living Torah (as the earlyJewish Christians called him) took on human nature for eternity thus elevating man tolevel of Divinity. Rabbi Isaac the Blind of provence further reveals that from thePrimordial Torah was drawn a single name Hesed (Love/mercy/Lovingkindness). StJohn the Beloved also states that God is Love (Hesed). Rabbi Isaac explains that thispower Hesed (which is the Divinity himself) is divided into three forces from thesethree forces emanate the ten sefirot. Thus Kabbalah states that the Torah is based onLove (Hesed). Jesus sums up the Torah as Love of God and neighbour. God is Hesed andJesus is Hesed incarnated. The angelic salution of Mary as full of Hesed (meleat haHesed) proclaims that Mary as Mother of God is full of Hesed or full of Jesus/God. Thusthe way of the spiritual l ife must be the way of Hesed.

David Goldstein in his book Jewish Mythology (p.24) states that:

... the Torah then became personalised as a kind of artisan, a medium bywhich the creation of the world was set in motion, and the whole creativeprocess planned. In this sense it may be seen as Logos, or the divineword... Connected with the idea that the Torah was present at Gods side




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at the creation is the view that the letters of the Hebrew alphabet were inthemselves instrumental in the formation of the world. This view is mostdirectly put at the beginning of the Sefer Yezirah (The Book of Formation),which was attributed to the Patriarch, Abraham... It states that the worldwas created by the 22 letters of the Hebrew alphabet and the tennumbers, which together form the 32 paths of understanding.

This corresponds with the Christian idea found in the New Testament that Jesus is theAlef and Tav (in Greek, Alpha and Omega), the first and last letters of the Hebrewalphabet which encompass all the letters, and are thus the Divine Word. The first line ofthe Bible states Bereshit bara elohim et(In the Beginning created God the). The et isalef and tav. It is through this alef and tav which is the divine Word that the creationoccurred. This teaching of Judaism is confirmed by the first chapter of Johns gospel.The Zohartells us that this et is the Shekinah and 3 Enoch tells us that the Shekinahdwelt with Adam and Eve in the Garden. The Zoharconsiders this as a great mystery orsecret. The Hebrew word for mystery or secret is sod. The eastern Church refers to theSeven Sacraments as the Holy Mysteries and the early Church referred to the Eucharistas the Great Secret. Thus the Latin term sacramentum corresponds with the Hebrewsod. Zoharteaches that the Shekinah is a great sod and the Church refers to theEucharist as one of the seven great Mysteries of the new covenant.

Dangers of Power

When one seeks the mystical way or kabbalah to gain more power rather than love asdid many of the Lurianic Kabbalists, one enters into evil Sitra Ahra(the Other Side)and encounters the Evil One (Satan) and his demons often as angels of light. Thefollowers of Rabbi Isaac Luria (mid 16th century) took the authentic Jewish mysticaltradition of Kabbalah centred on Love (Hesed) and used or misused it to gain powerover spiritual entities not distinguishing between invoking angels or demons. TheScriptures forbid the occultic practice of summoning spirits- thus the Lurianic mysticsgenerally follow occultic practices which seek power rather than love. Freemasonry andtheosophy owe much to this perversion of Kabbalah. True Kabbalah (such as found inZoharic Kabbalah) warns that to seek power (Gevurah) without Hesed is to enter in toevil the Other Side. The rigid code of legalistic observance found in Shulhan Arukh,that seems to me to be lacking in love, was compiled by a Lurianic Kabbalist Rabbi

Joseph Karo (1488-1575) of Safed. He was guided and instructed by a spirit guide amaggid or celestial teacher. Rabbi Morris Margolies in his bookA Gathering of Angelsstates:

Lurianic Kabbalists were also given to summoning angels and demons byusing intricate combinations of the names of God, literally numbering inthe hundreds. They did not think of this as magic (though, in effect, itwas), since God himself was the means by which they were seekingcertain ends.

Thus Lurianic Kabbalism has introduced occultism into Judaism and the Jewish tale ofJoseph della Reina is a warning of this perversion of Kabbalah. The movement of thefalse messiah Sabbetai Zvi (1626-1676) also followed Lurianic Kabbalah and fell intosexual as well as spiritual perversion. The only safe way to enter into the mysticalrealm is through Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament the God of compassion. In theEucharist we enter the mystical realm in and through and with the power of his PreciousBlood which is the hesed of the Divine Body.

Apocalypse 19 and Kabbalah

Apocalypse 19 describes Jesus in kabbalist imagery. Jesus is seen in a mystical waycrowned with many crowns. The Kabbalah equates the ten sefirot with crowns. So Johnis proclaiming that Jesus is crowned with the attributes of God himself with the manycrowns of the Divinitys Attributes or Sefirot. Jesus title of King of Kings and Lord ofLords is seen inscribed in his thigh or right side. Kabbalah states through the teaching

of Rabbi Isaac the Blind:

The world was created in the right side of the Holy One, blessed be He ...In the right side of the Holy One... was engraved all the inscriptions whichwere destined to change from potentiality to actuality, due to theemanations of all the crowns which are inscribed, pressed and formed inthe degree of Loving kindness (Hesed).




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This majestic Divine King is described, in other parts of the Apocalypse of John, as theLamb that was slain as the Eucharistic Lord. Kabbalah only finds its true fulfillment inthe Eucharistic mystery as proclaimed by the Kehilla of the Messiah. It is the mystery ofhumility. The eyes of pride cannot perceive this key to the divine mysteries. It is onlygiven to the childlike and the humble. Jesus is the humble (Aniv) Righteous (Tzaddik)King of the Old Testament prophecy who is even more humble now, as a prisoner ofLove in the tabernacles of the world, than when he walked Israel 2000 years ago. Thewhole of the Jewish tradition, culture and religion was a preparation for mankind tounderstand this divine mystery of the Paschal or eucharistic mystery but only aminority of men have been able to comprehend this mystery. However during theEucharistic reign of Jesus over the earth which is the triumph of Marys Royal andImmaculate Heart (i.e., her heart full of Hesed), all men wil l see the glory unveiled ofthe Eucharistic Lord.

The Blood of Jesus

The Kabbalah also sees the ten sefirot as the cloak or garment or Tallit (Prayer Shawl)of the Godhead. This Tallit is also seen as the Divine Light in which God encompassesHimself. Jesus is the Divine Light that has come into the world according to the NewTestament. Apocalypse 19 reveals this cloak or Tallit as soaked in blood. This blood isthe Love (or Hesed) of God poured out for mankind. Love or Hesed is the principle ofunity and life in the Godhead and in time and space manifests as the blood of Jesus.

The Divine mercy devotion links Hesed with the Precious Blood. The Old Testamentsees blood as the principle of life and thus sacred. Man was made in the image andlikeness of God and this is why we can explain the heavenly mysteries as a Divine bodyin which the blood that animates its life is Hesed.

And now I saw heaven open and a white horse appear; its rider wascalled Faithful and True; he is a judge with integrity, a warrior for justice.His eyes were flames of fire, and his head crowned with many crowns, thename written on him was known only to himself, his cloak was soaked inblood. He is known by the name, the Word of God. Behind him dressed inlinen of dazzling white, rode the armies of heaven on white horses. Fromhis mouth came a sharp sword to strike the pagans with; he is the one

who will rule then with an iron sceptre, and tread out the wine of almightyGods fierce anger. On his cloak and on his thigh there was a nameinscribed; The King of Kings and the Lord of Lords (Apocalypse 19:11-16).

The symbolism of this whole passage is Kabbalistic and comes alive with hidden depthwhen seen in the l ight of Kabbalah. The glorious coming of the Lord with the clouds ofHeaven is here seen as the God of Justice coming in Judgement (Din/Gevurah) but thatDin covered with Hesed (the Precious Blood). The beings on white horses are theHeavenly company of the angels and saints (who the Epistle to the Hebrews calls agreat cloud of witnesses), the white horses are the power of God. In apocalypse 11 and12 the heavens are opened and this same Divine King is seen with Mary as the Ark ofthe Covenant as well as the divine child in the womb of the pregnant Queen-Mother(Givirah) this imagery is completely Eucharistic. At other times such as in Apocalypse5 and 6 the heavens open to reveal the Divine Liturgy (Mass). The whole Book of theApocalypse is a Eucharistic exposition. It is the story of the lamb. That lamb is revealedas our Eucharistic Lord. It is the story of the battle between the Eucharistic Lord and thebeast that would destroy the Eucharist. St. John is celebrating the Eucharist on theLords Day when he is taken up into the Divine Liturgy in heaven. It is through theEucharistic consecration that Jesus and his sacrifice become present on the altar anda portal or vortex is opened up with heaven or eternity here on earth. By receiving theEucharistic Lord in Communion we are already starting to enter into the Eternal life ofGod as explained in Johns Gospel. The true mystical life cannot be separated, since thecoming of Christ, from the Eucharist as its central and supreme point. Any mysticalmovement that doesnt have the Eucharist at its heart is not authentic. All the mysticalCatholic saints saw the Eucharist as essential and central to their mystical spiritual life.

The Immanent God

The Jewish tradition saw that the Divine Presence in the Temple above the Ark of theCovenant was the point at which the Immanent God entered his creation andmaintained it. Gods presence is the Eucharist in todays world and it is this way throughthe Eucharist that the Immanent God manifests His love and power into His creation.




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The more that perpetual Adoration is spread the more love and power flows fromthese Eucharistic gateways from the heart of God. Zohar 1:7h states that the Shekinah(the Real Presence) is the gate to the Divine. It is adoration of this Divine Presence thatopens this gateway and allows the Power (Din/Gevurah) and the Love and Mercy (Hesed) to flow from the heart of God (the Sacred Heart). 1 Kings 9:3 proclaims that theShekinah is the eyes and the heart of God and Catholic belief proclaims that the RealPresence of the Blessed Eucharist is the Sacred Heart of Jesus.

The LORD said to him, I grant your prayer and the entreaty you havemade before me . I consecrate this House you have built; I place my namethere forever; my eyes and my heart shall dwell there perpetually(1 Kings9:3).

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The Eucharist and Jewish Mystical Tradition - Part 3

Athol Bloomer

Ed. This article appeared inThe Hebrew Catholic #80. All rights reserved. Athol is a laymissionary with the Missionary Society of Our Lady of the Blessed Sacrament. Thisseries reflects talks that Athol gave in the early 1990s.

Caution:Athol's reflections spring from his life previously as an observant Jew and nowas a Catholic. Our inclusion of these articles are not to be understood as arecommendation to study Jewish mysticism as found in modern day versions of theKabbalah. On the contrary, without special studies and a firm formation in the Catholicfaith, we would urge all Catholics to avoid the Kabbalah - it is a mixed bag of the occultand other elements contrary to the faith. Athol's reflections sort through the distortions

introduced by the Lurianic Kabbalists to show the truths of the Catholic faith hidden inthe Jewish mystical traditions. Here is Athol's response to an email query.



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The Pinnacle of all Human Acts

Kabbalah states that human righteous acts open a channel (Yesod/Tzaddik) that allowsthe attributes or emanations of God to flow on to the earthly level (see the Zohar). Thischannel is called the Sefirah of Yesodor Tzaddik. The Jewish traditions and Scriptureassociate the Tzaddik with the humble Messiah. This is confirmed in the New Testamentwhere Jesus as Messiah and High Priest of the New Covenant opens the gate or veil toheaven for all believers. One can only perform righteous acts by being in union with the

Righteous One(Tzaddik) who is Jesus. The pinnacle of righteousness is to love God withall your heart, mind, and soul you do this through worship and adoration of God. ThusPerpetual Adoration is the pinnacle of all human acts and opens wider and wider thegateway to Heaven pouring out increasing amounts of Gods purifying love and power this is the fire of the Holy Spirit which is the love of the Eucharistic Heart of Jesus.When enough people adore Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament then the whole of creationwill be impenetrated with Gods Presence of Love (Hesed), flowing from the Eucharist,that the earth will be transformed and it will culminate in a new heavens and a newearth.

A Symbolic Language

Of course it is important to note that the whole system of the Sefirot and Kabbalah is apurely symbolic explanation of reality put into human language, as is the case with theexplanations of the Catholic mystics such as St. John of the Cross and St. Teresa ofAvila. The mystics experience the reality of the heavenly mysteries and symboliclanguage is the closest they can express this reality so that it can be comprehensible toothers.

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://hebrewcatholic.or /HCLives/Bloomer-Athol/eucharistand ewi.html


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The Titles of Jesus

That Jesus himself was familiar with this mystical tradition or kabbalahwithin Judaismis evident by the titles he calls himself such as Son of Man(Ben Adam), the Bridegroom(Hatan), and the Lord of the Sabbath. His reference to himself as Lord of the Sabbathproclaims him as the heavenly King associated with the concept of Shekinah. The titleBridegroom (Hatan) linked him with the mystical interpretation of the Song of Songsasmentioned above. The use of the title Son of Man (Ben Adam) linked him to themysticism of the Book of Danieland the Enochian literature. The role of Enoch was very

important in the Jewish mystical tradition.

Enoch and Metatron

The Enoch traditions confuse Enoch with the Son of Man who is also called Metatronand, in other Jewish accounts, the Angel Yahoel. Both 1-Enoch (the Ethiopian Enochwhich was also found in Aramaic in the Dead Sea Scrolls) and 3-Enoch (the HebrewEnoch) confuse the identity of the ascended Enoch with the divine Son of Man. Enochhowever, is l ike Elijah, a type of the Messiah or Son of Man. The mystical traditionassociates Metatron with the name Shaddai. Both these names add up to 314. Shaddaiis a title of the divinity and is translated as Almighty. In this same tradition Metatron iscalled the shining light of Shekinah, and thus is the Divine Presence. The mistakenunderstanding that Enoch, a human, could be transformed into Metatron shows a vagueand confused knowledge that the Divinity was to become man. This samemisunderstanding is shown by Eve in Genesis when she thinks she has given birth toGod in the flesh of Cain. This is seen when one reads this account in the Hebrew. Theconcept of the GodMan found in the Enoch/Metatron tradition shows that there was astrand of this knowledge in the authentic mystical tradition. Isaiah also shows evidenceof this belief that the Messiah would be both God and man.

In the Zohar, Metatron is in existence before the creation and thus Enoch could notreally be Metatron. However Enoch is closely associated with Metatron who will becomethe Son of man and be a Son of Enoch . Enoch, in his translation into the heavenlies, isso transformed by the light of the Divine Presence (Metatron) that in a mystical sensehe becomes one with the Divine Presence and reflects this light of Metatron. Tikkunei

Zoharidentifies Metatron as the Biblical Tree of the Knowledge and Good and Evil. TheSefirot are described as a cosmic Tree or Divine body. The Sefirot are also seen as anorchard. The New Testament describes Gods People with the images of the Body (seePauls epistles) and a Tree (Hebrews).

The figure of Enoch is at the heart of much of the Kabbalah. According to the Catholicmystic (whose case for beatification has been reopened by the Pope in recent times)Venerable Anne Catherine Emmerich, Abraham and the patriarchs had access to thewritings of Enoch. I believe that the books of Enoch are edited versions of the oldestsurviving literature of man and its influence is seen in both the Old and NewTestaments. It has also influenced other ancient Jewish writings as well as the ancientEgyptian texts and religion. The whole mystery of the Pyramids is connected with these

Enochian mysteries.

Within the ancient religious cults of Mesapotamia and Egypt elements of the Divinerevelation were concealed and hidden among many false concepts and ideas. They hada confused knowledge of the coming of the Divine Seed of God and the writings ofEnoch were the pure form that the Mesopotamian and Egyptian cults distorted. TheChurch Fathers taught that elements of the Divine Revelation were concealed in theancient pagan religions and these seeds of the gospel were a preparation for the fullrevelation in Jesus Christ. Satan however has sought to conceal these truths by mixingin his own elements in order to lead mankind astray from the truth.

Ancient Mythologies

The Norse Mythology, also like the Bible and the Jewish mystical tradition, had theconcept of the cosmic Tree and the whole of the Norse Mythology is a corruption of thereligion of the northern Israelites. In fact the mythological religions of the Norse, Celts,Greeks and Egyptians show a substratum of the Hebrew religion and a distorted versionof the Kabbalah. The Egyptian theology of the Ennead shows this link very clearly. Manyof the ancient Gnostic and mystery religions show evidence of this link with Kabbalahbut coming via the Egyptian distortion of Kabbalah. The roots of Kabbalah are in the




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Enochian literature and both the religions of Mesapotamia and Egypt show evidence ofa confused transmission of this tradition. This Kabbalistic influence in the Egyptianreligion confirms the radical redating of the chronology of Egypt as first proposed by theJewish genius Immanuel Velikovsky in his writings.

Joseph and Amon

The Egyptian religion ofAmonis a confused translation of the Hebrew mystical traditionbrought to Egypt by Jacob and Joseph. The Kabbalah in Judaism is closely associatedwith the patriarchs. The primordial Torah in Kabbalah is said to be given the name

Amonbefore the creation as taught by Rabbi Isaac the Blind of Provence. Amon meansarchitect and this is why the Freemasons who draw on Kabbalistic and Egyptiantraditions call the Divinity the Great Architect. The Egyptian priests saw the patriarchJoseph as a manifestation of the deity Amon (Architect). Jacob ,his father, they calledRa (Sun). Ra which means Sun in the Egyptian language was associated by Josephwith his father Jacob in his heavenly dream or vision in Genesis 37.

Look, I have had another dream Joseph said. I thought I saw the sunand moon and eleven stars, bowing to me. He told his fathers andbrothers, and his father scolded him. Are all of us then, myself yourmother and your brothers, to come and bow to the ground before you?His brothers were jealous of him, but his father kept the thing in mind.(Genesis 37:9-11)

The Sefirah of Tiferet was also called Jacob as well as Sun in the Jewish Kabbalah. TheEnnead of the Nine gods is the Egyptian understanding of the Sefirot of the nine TriadicSefirot. The phallic image of Geb the Earth god is linked to the Sefirah of Yesod alsoknown as the phallus of the divine body and this divine phallus is called in Kabbalah theaxis mundi or cosmic pillar. This is why the Egyptians portray the earth as a male withan erect phallus. This phallus or Sefirah of Yesod is also associated with Osiris whomthe Egyptians identify with Joseph. The Catholic mystic Venerable Anne CatherineEmmerich states that Joseph and his wife Asenath were associated by the Egyptianswith Osiris and Isis. She also saw that the Egyptian religion was a confused distortion ofthe teachings of Joseph and Asenath and the patriarchal religion.

The Zoharic Kabbalah associates the Sefirah of Yesod with Joseph. The EgyptianBenben stone is associated with the phallus of Osiris which can be connected with theStone of Jacob or Jacobs Pillow on which he saw the ladder or channel to the heavenlyrealm in Genesis 28. The Yesod is seen in Kabbalah as a channel linking the Shekinah tothe higher Sefirot. Here is the gate to heaven.

Taking one of the stones to be found at that place, he made it his pillowand lay down where he was. Jacob had a dream: a ladder was there,standing on the ground with its top reaching to heaven: and there wereangels of God going up it and coming down ... Then Jacob awoke from hissleep and said, Truly the LORD was in this place and I never knew it! Hewas afraid and said, How awe-inspiring this place is! This is nothingless than a house of God: this is the gate of heaven!Rising early inthe morning Jacob took the stone he had used for his pillow, and set it upas a monument, pouring oil over the top of it. He named the place Bethel... this stone I have set up as a monument shall be a house of God, and Iwill surely pay you a tenth part of all you give me. (Genesis 28)

The Divine Sparks

The concept of the Divine Sparks of Truth being diffused throughout the world and thatthe Messiah will gather together these Divine Sparks is a part of Kabbalistic lore.However this doctrine has become unfortunately entangled with the false notion ofreincarnation especially among Lurianic Kabbalists. The Church Fathers taught that notonly was the Jewish inheritance the preparation for the Gospel or New Covenant but

that elements (Divine Sparks) within the pagan religions and philosophies were also apreparation for the Gospel. All these authentic elements were a preparation for theunderstanding of the Paschal Mystery of Jesus as the Eucharistic Lord.

Many of the enemies of the Catholic Church and of the Eucharist associate the Catholicbeliefs and customs with paganism because of similarities with some aspects of PaganReligion. It can be demonstrated that all these so-called pagan beliefs and customs are




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rooted in Jewish prototypes and the reason some aspects are similar to pagan religionsis because these religions have distorted Jewish and Enochian beliefs and religion,mixing the truth with the lies and distortions of the Evil One. From the beginning therehave been two priesthoods and two religions symbolised by Cain and Abel. The spiritualdescendants of Cain have tried to twist the divine truths preserved by the spiritualdescendants of Abel such as Seth, Enoch, Noah and Shem. The Cainite religion wasreintroduced by the grandson of Shem, Cainan, to the post deluge world and it wascentred at Eridu as the cult of Enki. It succeeded in conquering and absorbing theEnochian cult of Anu at Uruk and developed a hybrid or synthesis of religion in ancientMesapotamia.

The result of this was that God chose Abraham, a descendant of Heber in his generationto preserve the authentic Divine Truths or Revelation, and his descendants - the Hebrewnation after him. This Elect people were to be prepared for the unveiling of the mysteryof the Incarnation and the Paschal Mystery of the Eucharist. From the remnant of Graceamong the Jewish People the Eucharist was to be taken to all nations. It is by meansof the Eucharist that Jesus is winning back the whole of the fallen creation for God theFather.

Eucharistic Evangelisation

Today we are in the time of Divine Mercy and this is also the time of the Eucharistsgreatest glory. Today all evangelisation must be Eucharistic evangelisation drawing all

people to Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament. It is there with the Eucharistic Jesus thathearts will be converted and souls healed. It is only by receiving the Divine Love orMercy (Hesed) in our Holy Hours that allows us, like Mother Teresas nuns, to go out toothers and bring them the true love and mercy and forgiveness of the Lord from themidst of the Sacred Heart of Jesus present in the Blessed Sacrament.

The Popes Request

Pope John Paul 11 has asked in Seville, Spain on 13 June 1993, that every parish andChristian community have Perpetual Adoration of Jesus exposed in the BlessedSacrament. The Virgin Mary as Mother of the Eucharist is asking for Eucharisticadoration in her numerous apparitions. The Lord is leading the Church at this stage of

history into a deeper understanding of the mystery of the Eucharistic Sacrifice. At thistime of Mercy (see Romans 11 and Zechariah), the Jewish People will be converted by aEucharistic miracle to the Catholic Faith. In these last days they will become thechampions of the Eucharist. It is then that the full impact of the Kabbalistic preparationfor the Eucharist will be revealed and the Lurianic perversion of Kabbalah will beexpelled by the Jewish body.

The Sons of Antichrist

The Catholic tradition, as recorded by St. Thomas Aquinas, claims that Enoch and Elijah(two important figures in Jewish Kabbalistic thought) will take the newly found Ark ofthe Covenant (whose discovery will be associated with the Eucharistic miracle, see 2

Macc 2) and they will place the Blessed Sacrament upon the Ark proclaiming that theEucharistic Jesus is the King Messiah of Jewish prophecy and belief. The Antichrist orFalse Messiah will persecute these two Eucharistic messengers and all those whoremain true to the Eucharistic Sacrifice of the Mass.

All the enemies of the Sacrifice of the Mass and Perpetual Adoration are in the spirit ofantichrist for they deny Christ come in the flesh. His flesh and blood are the Eucharisticspecies which is the Sacrifice of the Mass. Those who wish to turn the Wedding Feast ofthe Sacrificial Lamb into a bland Protestant memorial meal are the sons of Antichrist.When the meal aspect of the Eucharist is stressed to the detriment of the sacrificialaspect we see the hand of Satan.

The Jewish Passover Meal cannot be fully comprehended without understanding the roleof the sacrificial Lamb. Thus the Last Supper is incomprehensible without it beingperceived as the sacrifice of Christ as the Lamb of God made present in the Eucharisticspecies of bread and wine.

The Good News




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That all evangelisation should be Eucharistic evangelisation (preaching the good news)is shown in that the Hebrew word basar(flesh/body) used by Jesus in John 6 and at theLast Supper comes from the same root as the Hebrew word bisir (to bring good news/toherald), Joseph Stallings in his bookRediscovering Passoverstates

...the Hebrew word biser comes from the same root as basar (flesh,body) and means to bring good news, to herald (Alcalay, CompleteHebrew-English Dictionary, col.299). Kittel asserts that the New Testamentconcept of evangellion (gospel, the good news) comes from theRabbinical use of the verb biser for proclaiming good news and that it isnot derived from some Greek source. That implies that the concept ofgood news (evangellion) originates in Jesus words, Den Bisri(Stallings pg216)

Den Bisriis the Aramaic for This is my Body and is connected with the Hebrew andAramaic idiom for flesh and blood, meaning a persons whole being. In Aramaic theexpression is bisra-adam and in Hebrew basar-dam. Stallings also states:

... basar/bisra have sacrificial connotations as well, as both body andflesh are terms used to describe the sacrificial offering, especially of thesacrificial lambs.(Stallings p.215)

The Errors of the Pharisees

The Kabbalah can be used as advocated by Pope Sixtus IV to proclaim the truths ofCatholicism but with an awareness that much is handed down by the Pharisees (whomwe today call the Orthodox Jews), and some of their faulty suppositions will be found inthe material. The Pharisees confused the doctrine of the Resurrection (in which Jesusand Paul agreed with them) with the concept of reincarnation. Thus in the Kabbalah,coming via Pharisaic sources, will be found allusions to this erroneous belief inreincarnation.

That this false teaching was admixed with the authentic in the mystical tradition is seenin that many early Christians such as Origen taught it. St. Jerome tells us that it wasalso taught among the early Christians as an esoteric and traditional doctrine which wasgiven to the select few (see The Kabbalah: Its Doctrine, Development and LiteraturebyChristian G. Ginsburg p. 125). Ginsburg tells us that it was also taught by the KaraiteJews since at least the 7th century. lt would seem that this occultic teaching oftransmigration or reincarnation entered the Jewish Tradition through Gnostic orBabylonian sources. Jesus warned his followers against many of these traditions of theelders that the Pharisees had introduced into the pure religion of Moses. Rigid legalisticfence building, followed by the Pharisees and continued by the Lurianic Kabbalists, turntrue spirituality in religion into a magistical ritualistic observance which puts thegreatest importance in the strict following of rituals rather than a humble spiritualsearch for the Divine. Rules, rituals and laws should be the pathway or signposts to anencounter with God, not a method for blocking such access.

A Catholic Mystic

Venerable Anne Catharine Emmerich, a Catholic mystic who bore the stigmatic woundsof Christ (born 1774) and could see the past, present and future in mystic vision, statesin regard to the authentic mystical visions of the Patriarch Josephs wife, Asenath, aPriestess of Annu (Heliopolis) that:

... Asenath ascended a tower upon which she seemed to be, as it were ina little garden. Here she gazed upon the stars by moonlight. She fell intoecstacy and read all things clearly in the stars. The truth was shown her inpictures, because she was chosen of God. I have seen the pagan priestsintroduced into strange, diabolical worlds where they beheld the most

abominable things. By such diabolical visions were the secretcommunications of Asenath disfigured and made to contribute to theabominations of idolatry...(Life of Jesus Christp.98 Vol 1).

Much of Emmerichs mystical concepts have similarities to the Kabbalistic concepts, justas do the mystical works of St. Teresa of Avila. However one must weed out the chaff




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from the wheat in the Kabbalah, removing the leaven of the Pharisees. For just as thepagan Egyptian priests have distorted Kabbalah through occultic means, so have thePharisees and Lurianic Kabbalists. Today the New Age movement is another perversionof the spiritual and mystical tradition which takes elements of the truth and mixes themwith the doctrines of demons. Today true mysticism is found centred on Jesus in theBlessed Sacrament found at the heart of his Church, just as in the Old Covenant truemysticism was centred on the Shekinah Presence of God found above the Ark of theCovenant in the Jewish Temple.

The Gate to Heaven

It is only through Jesus and his Church that one can make the mystical ascent to thehighest realms of the Heavenlies whether in this life or after death. In the Old Covenanttimes, the gate to Heaven was closed and even Enoch and Elijah (the two greatestfigures in the Jewish mystical tradition), only ascended to the Garden of Eden situatedat the gate to Heaven. Venerable Anne Catharine Emmerich states that:

... Enoch was taken up to Paradise. There he waits at the entrance gate,whence with another (Elijah) he will come again before the last day.

This gate or portal was only opened by the sacrifice of Christ. Emmerich states:

... I have always thought that by the wounds of Jesus there were opened

anew in the human body portals closed by Adams sin. I have been givento understand that Longinus opened in Jesus side the gate ofregeneration to Eternal Life, therefore no-one entered Heaven while thatgate was closed.

Emmerich with Kabbalah believes that man (Adam) was created in the image of theDivine Body or Primordial Adam. She states:

The first man was an image of God, he was like Heaven, all was one inhim, all was one with him. He was a reproduction of the Divine Prototype.

Thus the basic teachings of Kabbalah in regards to the Godhead seem to be in accord

with Catholic belief. This is why many Catholics, including Popes Sixtus IV and Leo IX,were so excited about Kabbalah. Pope Sixtus IV ordered the Kabbalah to be translatedinto Latin so it could be studied by Divinity students. A knowledge of Kabbalah alsohelps one comprehend more clearly the writings of the great Catholic mystics as well asmany concepts found in Scripture, especially in the writings of Paul and John as well asin the Letter to the Hebrews.

The Church

We have seen that the Shekinah is associated with the heavenly King or the Word ofGod who dwells in History through the power of the Holy Spirit. We also saw that theShekinah was associated with the Sabbath Bride and thus with Our Lady and the

Church.

The Shekinah has two aspects in the Jewish mystical tradition, as the dwelling Presenceof God and secondly as the mystical Body of Israel, or the Community of the People ofGod. In this second aspect, Shekinah is called the Matronita in the Kabbalah. Matronitais the prototype of the Church. The Messiah Jesus and the Church are so united thatthey can both be associated with the term Shekinah. Matronita or the Matron is seen inKabbalah as a Queen (see Ginsburg p. 102). The Matronita is seen as the Mother ofIsrael or People of God.

... The Shekina-Matronit, we read in the Zohar, is the (spiritual) mother ofIsrael, and as such she is the embodiment of the Community of Israel(the Hebrew term for which, Knesset Yisrael, has the feminine gender).(The Hebrew Goddessby Raphael Patai p.200).

Matronita in Kabbalah is also seen as a warrior Queen who commands the hosts ofHeaven. She is the defeater of Israels enemies both spiritual and physical. Matronita isalso seen as the mother of Metatron. Thus Matronita is an image of both Mother Churchand the Mother of God. Raphael Patai in his book The Hebrew Goddess shows thesimilarities between the Jewish concept of Matronita and the Virgin Mary of Christianity.




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This role of Mary is also seen in the Jewish concept of the Sabbath Bride/Queen.Matronita is closely associated with the Sabbath in the Kabbalah. The Falasha Jewsdescribe the Sabbath in language very similar to that used by Christians of Mary. Theunion between Christ and his Church as taught by St. Paul is seen as a marriagerelationship and the Christian interpretation of the Song of Songs confirms this. Thechurch as Mother or Matronita unites or embraces her husband God/Christ seen as theSefirah of Tiferet or King.

Kabbalah teaches that this mystical union between Matronita (Shekinah) and Tiferet iscalled the Sacred Apple Orchard and it produces the human souls of the Just. Thus weare all the children of the heavenly Huppah (marriage canopy) and thus children of ourHoly Mother, the Church.

The Zohar

The Zoharcompiled by Rabbi Moses de Leon contains much of the traditions of theJewish mystical tradition. Rabbi Moses de Leon takes this precious material and placesthis wisdom in the mouths of the famous second century A.D. rabbis. Howeverthroughout the Zoharmaterial, appears the mysterious figures of the Old Man DonkeyDriver as a heavenly messenger and of his mysterious child. The disguised Old Man isfamiliar in Jewish tradition as the Prophet Elijah who sometimes visits men in this guise.The Zoharassociates the child in close connection with this Donkey Driver. The Messiahis to enter Jerusalem riding on a donkey according to Zechariah, and thus this Donkey

Driver is none other than the Prophet Elijah who is to herald this Davidic Messiah.

The mysterious Child of the Zoharis revealed as a Son of Joseph and he is connectedwith the sign of the Fish. Thus hidden in the Zoharis information that Jesus Christ is theJewish Messiah. He is revealed as the Christ-Child in the Zohar, an image of theMessiah dear to Catholic devotion. The wisdom and questioning of the Child by theRabbis is an allusion to the Child Jesus in the Temple, at twelve, confounding the Rabbisof his time. Thus within Judaism is hidden the true identity of the Messiah. The Zoharicaccount of this Child is disturbing and the reader knows that the Child is somehowDivine or Heavenly not just the son of a famous rabbi. The Zoharhas retained this inhidden form possibly through traditions coming from Rabbi Simeon Ben Zoma and RabbiEleazar who were both famous rabbis of the second century who accepted that Jesus

was the Messiah. That Ben Zoma taught these Christian doctrines has been recentlyshown by Jewish scholarship. Due to the greatness of Ben Zoma, the Orthodox Jewstried to hide Ben Zomas Christian convictions from future generations.

The Rabbis Encounter a Child

In the Zoharis found the following story which reveals Jesus as the Messiah and theEucharistic Lord.

... His mother came and said to them, Masters, please look on my son with a goodeye. They said to her, Happy are you, worthy woman! Singled out from among allwomen! The Blessed Holy One has selected your portion, raised your banner above all

women of the world.

The Child said, I am not afraid of the evil eye, for I am the son of a great and preciousfish, and fish do not fear the evil eye, as it is written, They shall multiply l ike fish in themidst of the earth(Genesis 48:16). This blessing includes protection from the evil eye, forwe have learned: Just as fish of the sea are covered by water and are immune to theevil eye etc [so the descendants of Joseph are immune to the evil eye]. In the midst ofthe earth, indeed among human beings on earth.

They said, Son, Angel of YHVH! There is no evil eye in us, we do not come from theside of the evil eye. The Blessed Holy One is covering you with His wings.

They kissed him as before and said: Come, let us bless, I-Ie said, I will bless, because

everything youve heard until now was from me, I will fulfill the verse: One whose eye isgenerous will be blessed. Read it: wil l bless. Why? Because he gave of his own breadto the needy(Prov. 22:9). From the bread and food of my Torah you have eaten.

Rabbi Judah said: Son, Beloved of the Blessed Holy One! We have learned: the masterof the house breaks bread, and the guest blesses.




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He said to them, I am not master of the house, and you are not guests! But I havefound a verse and I will fulfill it, for I am truly generous. Without your asking, I havespoken until now and you have eaten my bread and my food.

He took the cup of blessing and began to bless. His hands could not hold the cup; theywere trembling. When he reached for the land and the food he said I raise the cup ofsalvation and invoke the name, Y~.(Psalm 116:13). The cup stood firm and settled in hisright hand and he continued blessing. At the end he said, May it be the Wil l that life beextended to one of these from the Tree of Life on which all depends! May the BlessedHoly One be surety for him. May he find surety below to share his surety with the HolyKing.

Having finished blessing he closed his eyes for a moment. Then he opened them andsaid, Comrades, Shalom to you from the good Lord who possesses all Shalom! Theywere amazed, and cried, and blessed him.

They stayed the night. In the morning they rose early and left. When they reachedRabbi Shimon, they told him what had happened. Rabbi Shimon was amazed. I-Ie said,I-Ie is the son of an invincible rock! He deserves this and more than any human canimagine. He is the son of Rav Hammina Sava.

The Davidic Messiah

This account in the Zoharis a description of the Davidic Messiah as the Jewish traditionconnects this with the role of the heavenly David. David Goldstein in his bookJewishMythologystates:

... David occupies a privileged position in Paradise. On the Day OfJudgement, there will be a banquet for the righteous in Heaven, whenthey will all taste the delicious flesh of Leviathan. David will say to God,Master of the Universe, may it be your will that your Presence dwellamong us. The Holy One, blessed be He, wil l accept Davids invitation ...and he will enter with David. All the righteous will stand by their thrones,and the Holy One, blessed be He, will sit upon his throne of glory, and

David will sit opposite him, on the throne prepared for him ... After themeal Grace is said, and God invites all the righteous in turn to take thecup of wine and say the blessing over it. Abraham refuses because hesays, I had a son (Ishmael) who angered God. Isaac refuses because thedescendants of one of his sons, Esau, destroyed the Temple. Jacob refusesbecause he married two sisters together which was later forbidden by theTorah. Moses refuses because he was not permitted to enter the PromisedLand, and Joshua because he was not blessed with a son. When Davidsturn comes he accepts, saying, I shall pronounce the blessing. for I amthe fit person to do it. as it written (Psalm 116:131) 1 shall raise the cup ofsalvation and call upon the name of the LORD.

Thus we see a veiled revelation of the Eucharistic Messiah King in these two accounts.The above account states that it is David who raises the cup of salvation and the Zoharstates that it is the Mysterious Child. That it is not the earthly David but the DavidicMessiah is shown in that King David due to adultery and homicide would not be worthyto raise the Cup of Salvation (Jesus/Yeshua), but it is the righteous (Tzaddik) KingMessiah whom David is representing in this tradition. We see this in the Psalm aboutGod not allowing David his Holy One to see corruption but the new Testament sees thisas referring to Jesus the Davidic Messiah.

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Part 2 To Be Continued




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