בס״ד
“Evil resides in the very gaze which perceives Evil all around itself.”
-G.W.F. Hegel
Video Transcript:
“Shalom!
We are still in the spirit of Purim. I would like to talk today about the Devil.
One of the principles of everything we teach has to do with the expression, ‘Pachad Yitzhak’ (‘The Fear of Isaac,’ or, ‘The Fear Will Laugh’). ‘Yitzhak’ (‘Isaac’) means, ‘he will laugh,’ he will laugh in the future. When Yaakov (Jacob) mentioned the G-d of his father Avraham, instead of saying, ‘the G-d of Avraham,’ he said, ‘Elokei Avi Avraham,’ (‘the G-d of my father Avraham’) and instead of saying, ‘the G-d of Yitzhak’, he said, ‘the Fear of Yitzhak.’ The ‘Fear of Yitzhak’ represents the G-d of Yitzhak (Genesis 31:42).
If I will write the ‘G-d of Yitzhak’ (I wrote a number instead of a name of G-d), ‘Elokei Yitzhak’ equals, ‘Hamor’ (‘donkey’ = 254). We are talking about laughing. ‘Hamor’ is like ‘humor’ and it has to do with laughing. We talked about Purim, and the month of Adar has to do with the ‘sense’ of ‘laughing’ (by the Book of Yetzirah), so this is the ‘sense’ of all of the month of Adar (the ‘sense’ of ‘laughing’). The letter of the month of Adar is ‘Kuf,’ which equals 100. ‘Kof’ is a ‘monkey,’ something that’s also supposed to make us laugh. ‘Kof’ is like the word, ‘copy,’ and a monkey imitates people. To copy someone has to do with the ‘Kuf’ of the month of Adar, which is why we dress and masquerade. This is all a part of the laugh of Purim. The more we have a fear, the more we will have a laugh afterwards.
We are going to talk about the biggest thing that makes people afraid. We will try to see the real face of what we call, ‘the Devil.’ Not the devil that our imagination invents, but the Devil from his real point of existence, which is something that is real. Something that is Emet (True) is never bad. What is bad is only our perception, which can make everything turn bad. We are talking about how the angel really exists as letters of the Torah.
The letter ‘Kuf’ equals 100 and is the letter of the month of Adar. Yitzhak was born when Avraham was 100 years old. The birth of laughing has to do with the number 100. Sarah was 90 years old when Yitzahk was born and both together form the word, ‘Ketz’ (קצ). ‘Kuf’ (ק) is 100 and the letter ‘Tzadik’ (צ) is 90. ‘Ketz’ is like the ‘end’ of redemption, so the name of ‘Yitzhak’ represents the ‘ketz,’ and ‘chai’ (‘living’), one of the permutations of the name, ‘Yitzhak.’ It’s like Avraham and Sarah got to the ‘end’ and what was born instead is the Mashiach (Messiah). The Mashiach (משיח) is ‘Shem Chai’ (שמ חי), the ‘living name’. ‘Chai’ (חי) has to do with the ‘Chayah’ (ח-) and ‘Yechidah’ (י-) of the soul. Chayah has to do with Mashiach Ben David and Yechidah has to do with Mashiach Ben Yosef. This is something general that we talk about…
Like Avraham represents ‘love,’ Yitzhak represents the fear of G-d and the ‘left hand’. ‘Pahad Yitzhak’ equals in Gematria, 300, which is ‘Ruach Elokim’ (‘the spirit of G-d’). It is written in the Creation that the Spirit of G-d hovered over the waters, it’s like flying very close over the water. Our Sages said that the Ruach Elokim is the spirit of the Mashiach. ‘Ruach Elokim’ and ‘Pahad Yitzhak’ also equals the ‘Son of Avraham’ and the letter ‘Shin,’ which equals 300 and all the filling letters of ‘Elokim’ (אלף למד הי יוד מם), so it’s a very important number which has to do with Mashiach. The letter ‘Shin,’ which equals 300, if we do the drawing of the letter Shin, it equals ‘Chen.’ Four yud’s (40) and three vav’s (18) equals 58, ‘Chen’ and ‘Yimach,’ the curse which contains all the secrets of Mashiach. 58 plus ‘Shin’ (300) equals 358, which is ‘Mashiach.’ Yizhak is the 21st generation (from Adam). ‘Shin’ is the 21st letter in the Alef-Bet, so we see this is the letter which has to do with Yitzhak.
This was a general introduction about the spirit of Purim, which is the ‘fear will laugh.’ Now, we’re talking about the Devil and he has a name. He is the Angel of Esau, who was fighting with Yaakov. This is the angel which gave Yaakov the name, ‘Israel,’ and blessed him. Our Sages said he blessed him with the Birkat Kohanim (Aaronic Blessing). Yaakov asked the angel to bless him with the blessing of the Priests. This angel really represents the Priests. He is supposed to be the Priest. He lives on his sword, which means that he lives from donations, or blood, which is like money.
We are not supposed to mention his name. When we say the name of an angel, it’s like we’re calling on him. If we call him, he comes and it’s like he asks, “why do you call me?” If we call for nothing, he can get upset, so it can have a bad result to call someone for nothing, so we don’t say the name of the angel for nothing. When we teach, it’s a good reason to call someone by their name. Another good reason to call someone is if he’s your friend. So if the Devil is your friend, you can call him and he’s not going to be upset. This is in the spirit of Purim.
The name is Samael. This is his name. I will write it like this (ס-מ-א-ל). When we talk about him, we call him Samek-Mem (the first two letters of his name, ס-מ). The nickname for the United States is ‘Uncle Sam.’ The Angel of Esau is above all the nations in the world. He represents one nation (Esau), but also all nations. He is the strongest of all the nations’ angels. Every nation has its own angel. We say that Michael is the Angel of Israel. Every nation has an angel that is like the general spirit of this nation. The general spirit of certain nations is what we call the ‘Sar’ (‘minister’) of that nation. The angel of the nation Edom (Rome) is the Samek-Mem. Today we can say that this power is in the United States of America. It’s a hint that we call the US, ‘Uncle Sam.’
There is something very special about these four letters of the name, Samael (ס-מ-א-ל). We mentioned before that Shin has a special way of drawing it (when you write it in the Book of Torah) that every letter is made from other letters. These four letters are the only four letters that when you draw them you receive ‘26,’ which is the name of G-d (Yud-Kei-Vav-Kei, י-ה-ו-ה). Like when we did the Shin that equals 58 with four yud’s and three vav’s, the same way is with the ‘Samek’ (ס, made of a Caf, 20, and Vav, 6). The Mem (מ) is also a Caf-Vav (כ-ו). The Alef (א) is a ‘yud,’ ‘yud,’ (10, 10) and ‘vav’ (6), which is again 26. The Lamed (ל) is ‘Caf-vav’ too. These are the only four letters which equal exactly 26 in all of the Alef-Bet. This represents the Four names of Yud-Kei-Vav-Kei. This equals a very special word, ‘Tzaid’ (‘hunting’). Yitzhak loved Esau because he put ‘game’ in his mouth. We can say that in a simple way of understanding, Yitzhak ate his sons’ meat and this is why he liked Esau. More deeply, Yitzhak is the hunter and he likes Esau because in his mouth, inside of him, there are holy sparks.
One of the secrets of the holy sparks that Yitzhak is hunting from inside of the soul of Esau, is like all of the Gerim (converts), souls which will come from the Nations, like Rabbi Akiva. It’s all part of the holy sparks which are in the mouth of Yitzhak. Yitzhak has to pull them from Esau and bring them back to Judaism, like the ‘head of Esau’ which came back and is buried in the Maarat HaMachpelah (Tomb of the Patriarchs). Chushim cut the head of Esau when they came to bury Yaakov. ‘Chushim’ (חשימ) is the same letters as Mashiach (משיח). It means that Mashiach is the power of bringing back all of the holy sparks of Esau which have to do with his head. The ‘head’ of Esau is the Devil. ‘Satan Tov’ (‘a good devil’) equals in Gematria, ‘Esau’ (376). This is the secret of the name ‘Yisrael,’ the name which we got from the Devil, which equals ‘Yaakov’ plus ‘Satan’ (182 + 359 = 541).
What is Yisrael (ישראל)? It’s the same letters of ‘Li Rosh’ (לי ראש), ‘I have the head’ – the head of Esau. This is the meaning of Israel – ‘I have the head of Esau, the Devil.’ This is the birthright of Yaakov when he became the firstborn, only when he takes all of the holy sparks which have to do with Esau.
Esau represents quality. There is quantity and quality. Yaakov had twelve children, so this had to do with quantity. Yishmael also had twelve boys and one girl. Yitzhak represents quality, and only had two boys. Yaakov represents quantity, the moon, which has twelve months. Esau represents quality. He was supposed to be the firstborn and has all kinds of qualities. Unfortunately, he is not really there or ready to use his deep and good qualities, but Yitzhak can see his potential to be really the firstborn and this is why he liked him. Yitzhak is not stupid and knows that the one who has the quality and the power to lead the world is only Esau, not Yaakov. The United States leads the world, not Yaakov (the people of Yisrael) yet, but Yaakov will achieve this quality from Esau, by buying his birthright, taking his blessing, by taking his wife. Leah was supposed to be for Esau. Yaakov is someone who will grow up and improve himself until he faces the Angel of Esau, when he’s not anymore a chicken. He will get the birthright from the Angel of Esau, but everyone forgets to mention that Esau puts himself as a part of Am Yisrael (the people of Israel). This is what makes us ‘Yisrael.’ ‘Yaakov’ plus ‘Satan’ equals ‘Yisrael.’”
Facing Each Other Blog 